Finding the Way
by hey-elle
Summary: Enjolras' complete absorption in his work has finally worn Eponine down. She leaves him to start a new life and Enjolras must find a way to get her back.
1. Chapter 1

He heard the knock and stretched. _Crap_, he thought, as he caught sight of the time. Had he really been sitting there for five hours? His grumbling stomach, stiff muscles and bleary eyes seemed to attest to that fact. The knocking started again and he hurried to open the door. He looked through the peep-hole and immediately tugged the door open. "Hey!" he said, smiling brightly. The sight of his girlfriend could always bring a smile to his face.

"Hey," she said, coming inside. He bent to kiss her but she sidestepped him and headed towards the kitchenette. "Important paper?" she asked, gesturing to the books, papers and open laptop.

"Yeah, actually. I've been doing research for –" he started, ready to expound on the subject that he had been absorbed in so long.

"Is it due soon?" she cut in. She disappeared into his pantry and came out again, bearing a bottle of wine.

"Actually it's due in a couple of weeks but I started it and got really into it," he said, rubbing the back of his sore neck. He could sense she was upset about something but he wasn't sure what and where exactly her anger was directed. He noticed for the first time what she was wearing. A pretty black dress, black pumps, her hair pinned up nicely and the necklace he'd given her last Christmas. She was stunning. "You look nice," he commented.

"Thanks," she said, glancing down at her outfit.

"What's the occasion?" he asked. He noticed a brief flash of anger in her eyes.

"The occasion?" she echoed him. The anger he had seen in her eyes was apparent in her voice. "The occasion's my birthday. I actually just got back from a really nice dinner at that new Italian restaurant that just opened up on 44th. I had this really good pasta and their bread was amazing. The alcohol was too expensive though so…" she lifted up the wine bottle. As she was saying this, a heavy feeling of guilt had begun to settle on him.

"Your birthday….right," he said, slowly. "The restaurant…right." _Dammit._ He was supposed to have been there. It was her birthday. How stupid was he to forget it was his own girlfriend's birthday. "Eponine, I am so very, truly, deeply, embarrassingly sorry."  
"It's fine, Enjolras," she said, in a clipped tone that said it was not fine.

"No, please. I feel terrible. Let me make it up to you. Tomorrow we can – "

"I can't do anything tomorrow," she cut him off.

"Well, then the next day," he insisted.

"I can't. I'm leaving tomorrow morning," she said, coldly.

"Leaving?" he echoed, weakly. "Leaving for where? For what?"

"I'm going to California. I got that journalist job," she told him.

"Journalist job?" he repeated.

"Yeah. I told you about it a while ago. You probably weren't listening. Or you just forgot," she said, callously.

"But how long are you gone for? Is it just, like, a temporary thing or are you coming back?" he asked, too bewildered to be upset.

"Well, I might come back for visits but we'll see how things go," she said. Her demeanor was cold and deceptively calm. Enjolras was floored. He didn't know what to say. How had this happened? Why hadn't she told him? Actually, he rectified that. She probably had told him. He just hadn't listened or heard.

"What about…what about…us?" he stammered.

"That's another reason I came over. To say good-bye. There _was _a good-bye party Saturday but I guess you didn't remember. Or never knew," she said. "It was small. Just my closest friends. Except you. I wasn't too annoyed at the time when you didn't show up and answer calls. I thought I'd have my date with you tonight."

"I'm sorry," he whispered, feeling utterly miserable and not knowing what else to say.

"You know, Enjolras. It's ok. This is obviously better for both of us. You are too busy with your stuff. My career is just taking off. So I guess it's better that we don't have this relationship distracting us." She took a deep breath and paused, waiting to see if he said something. But he didn't. He was still too shocked. Something in her seemed to snap. Her next words were said with an angry and intolerably sad voice. "How did we get to this? We used to be so close. But then work was consuming you and you never seemed to have time for me. I did my best. Went to your rallies, bailed you out of jail. All that good stuff because you were my boyfriend. I admit I was kinda pissed at first because after all the crap I went through you never seemed to notice. But then I realized that was just you. You don't notice things outside your precious little cause. And then I realized something else. That's why you noticed me in the first place. I was your little charity case, right?"

"Eponine, hang on," he said, beginning to recover enough to fight back. "That's not true."

"But isn't it? I don't need your _charity_ any more, so I'm of no interest. Your work's done and you can get back to saving the world. The sad thing is, I really thought you loved me, Enjolras."

"I do," he said weakly.

"Well, maybe you do. But it's clear you love your work more. There's nothing wrong with that. Just let a girl know so she doesn't have to wait around at some fancy restaurant looking like an idiot because she ordered a table for two."

"Eponine –" he started again.

"And I don't mind so much anymore. Your work is good. You really did help me and my days with you have been the best in my life. Your work even inspires my own. I wouldn't even have this job without you probably. You're the one who showed me how to channel my frustration and anger at everyone into something useful. So I thank you for that. But that's it. I'm done. I have to go. I have to let you go. So, good bye, Enjolras. I'll let you know when I've settled in so you don't worry." She turned and walked out the door. Just like that. She was gone and Enjolras had done nothing to stop her.

Eponine closed the door behind her and took a deep shaky breath. Her head hurt and she wanted to sleep. She was exhausted – mentally, physically, emotionally exhausted. She walked down the flight of stairs, pushed through the doors in the lobby and hailed a cab. She clutched the wine bottle like it was her lifeline the entire drive back to her home, tight-lipped and pale. The cab dropped her off outside the apartment and she climbed the stairs, opening the door. Most of her belongings had already been shipped to her new apartment all the way in California. Only a few suitcases with her clothes and a couple boxes of books remained. She kicked off her shoes, pulled her hair out of its elegant up-do, and pulled the dress off. She turned on the shower and stood underneath the warm spray, letting her mind go blank. She wasn't going to think about Enjolras and how much her heart hurt. She stayed in the shower until the water turned cold then she climbed out, dried herself off, wrapped herself in a huge fuzzy blanket and collapsed on the couch. Her last thought before falling asleep was that the blanket wasn't hers but Enjolras'.

He woke up the next morning at his table. He groaned and straightened his stiff muscles, lifting his head off a battered edition of _Democracy in America_. As he sat up, he suddenly remembered the events of last night and was gripped with severe panic. Why had he just let her walk out like that? What the hell was wrong with him? He scrambled about his apartment finding his keys and rushed downstairs. He drove as quickly as he could to her apartment complex. A glance at the clock said it was 8am but he didn't know what time her flight was. _Damn_. Why didn't he know these things? Why hadn't he listened to her? Why had he allowed it to come to this? He pulled into the parking lot and raced up the flight of stairs to her door and pounded on it for a long time. She didn't answer. He pulled out his keys, shakily finding the one that belonged to her place. He unlocked it and let himself in. Empty. It was empty except for the furniture that belonged to the apartment. "Eponine?" he called, hopefully but he knew she wasn't there. He went back outside, a feeling of despair descending on him.

"What are you doing here, kid?" He whirled around to see Eponine's landlady, Mrs. Gorbeau.

"I was looking for Eponine," he said.

"Eponine?" she asked, incredulously. "She already left. Didn't you know? Shouldn't you be at the airport with her?"

"Yes, I should be," Enjolras replied, bolting back down the stairs to his car. He was about to drive off again when he realized he didn't even know what airport. In his haste to leave, he hadn't grabbed his cell phone. He slumped dejectedly. Somehow, he drove back home safely but he didn't remember much of the drive. When he got home and found his cell phone buried beneath a pile of paperwork, there were twenty-three missed calls. He scrolled through them quickly. Most were received Saturday and from Grantaire. Some were from Eponine last night. The two newest were from Marius. He sucked in a breath and called him back. "Enjolras?" Marius' voce came through the phone.

"Marius? Did she already –" he didn't finish his sentence because there was a sudden scuffling noise and the sound of a very high pitched squealing that sounded very much like Cosette trying to take the phone.

"Enjolras? Can you stop by my place?" Marius' voice finally came back.

"Yes," Enjolras replied, not even questioning why. Once back in the car he realized he hadn't even eaten since yesterday's lunch. Oh, well. This was more important than food.

He arrived at the apartment Marius shared with Cosette. He could tell by the beat up blue pick-up that Grantaire must also be there. He mounted the steps and knocked on the door. There was a flurry of voices and several pairs of footsteps hurried towards the door. The door opened just a little and Marius' freckled face appeared a moment later around the edge of the door. "Oh, hi," he said and Enjolras nodded in greeting. Suddenly the door was yanked open completely and Cosette stood there hands on hips.

"I hope you know that you are the world's biggest douche bag. The way you've been treating Eponine these past months is just terrible and you're an absolute jerk. Eponine is the greatest girl in the world and you didn't deserve her and now she's gone and you didn't even say good-bye. Like seriously? How screwed up are you? You obviously don't care about her enough to even know she was leaving. How did you not even know she was leaving?" her shrill tirade battered him and Enjolras just frowned and took it. Cosette had been edging closer and closer as she continued spewing insults, a mile a minute. "Who do you think you are," she punctuated each word with a sharp jab in the chest, "to treat my best friend that way? Huh?" The whole time, Marius stood in the doorway, not bothering to stop his furious fiancée.

Grantaire strolled in from somewhere in apartment, wrapped his arms around Cosette and tugged her back. "Lemmego, Grantaire!" she shrieked, pounding on his arms. Enjolras looked only slightly relieved that Cosette's harsh lecture had been paused.

"Hang on, Cosette, I can handle this for both of us," Grantaire said, calmly, holding her behind him with one arm. He turned around and punched Enjolras square in the face. Enjolras reeled backwards, holding his nose which had begun pour blood. Cosette's face looked delighted and Marius looked rather approving. _Ok, I deserved that one_, Enjolras thought, holding his nose.

"Come on. I'll find you a towel," Marius said. Grantaire had already gone back inside and was sitting at the table sipping a beer. Cosette's arms were crossed and she glared at him as he stood awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen. When Marius came back, Enjolras was grateful to have something to busy himself with as he attended to his nose.

When the bleeding finally stopped, Enjolras looked up at his friends, feeling rather like he was facing a panel of judges. Very angry judges. "So, yes. I'm a douche and I deserve to die a miserable death," he said. Cosette nodded in agreement. "But having Eponine gone is a pretty bad punishment too," he muttered and he thought he saw Cosette's face soften just a little. "When did she leave?"

"Her flight was at 6:45 this morning. We all drove her there," Marius said. Grantaire suddenly rose and walked off but no one paid any attention to him. "She told us what happened. It was pretty screwed up, man. How did you not know she was leaving?"

"I don't know. I don't know," he said, despairingly. "I just… my work and stress and I didn't even realize. She came to the rallies and helped with the articles but I never realized. I'm such an idiot." Grantaire came back into the kitchen holding something. He dropped a fuzzy blanket onto the tabletop.

"She said this was yours and she forgot to give it back," he said, icily. Enjolras picked up the blanket, dazedly. He had forgotten he had even had this blanket. He brought it closer to his face and caught a faint scent. Her shampoo. It was all too much. He crumbled to the ground, buried his face in the blanket breathing in that faint scent and sobbed like a baby.

**A/N: Not a happy start. I know. But bear with me. Let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So I'm going to have this little sub-plot of how Enjolras and Ponine fell in love. It'll be set back in their college days. The flashbacks will be in the page breaks. :)**

Eponine sat in the uncomfortable airport chair, mechanically eating a sandwich. The past six hours had passed in a blur. The last thing she really remembers was saying good-bye to her friends. Marius, Cosette and Grantaire had arrived early that morning at her apartment. Over a breakfast of donuts and fruit, she told them the events of last night. They had all been properly indignant, letting loose the annoyance at Enjolras which had building over the past month. Even though she agreed with most of their insulting descriptions, she couldn't stop feeling the ache in her heart. She was still mad at him. Mad, angry and completely not regretting her break-up. She just wished it didn't have to be like this. As she stood in the terminal, saying her final farewells, she couldn't stop herself hoping to see him running up to her, apologies on his lips. "Don't worry, hon," Grantaire had whispered as she hugged him, "I'll keep an eye on him." She had only squeezed him tighter in silent thanks. Cosette had sobbed an ocean's worth of saltwater and even Eponine had gotten a little teary-eyed. Marius' shirt was their shared handkerchief. Marius, sweet boy that he was, didn't mind a bit. Finally, she tore herself away and headed towards the security checkpoint and away from everything she loved.

Sitting here with a one hour layover in Chicago, she stared at the bookstore across from her gate. She had been tempted to go in and pass the time by perusing its shelves but she couldn't trust herself to not just break down and sob in the middle of it. Bookstores always reminded her of _him_. It was where they had met.

* * *

Her first year of university, she worked part-time at a local bookshop. It was a fun job because she loved books so much and never a dull moment. If she wasn't catering to the needs of the many customers, mainly from the nearby university, she was tucked away behind the counter with one of the books she had taken from the shelf. She knew she wasn't supposed to read the books as it creased the covers but she always careful to take the second-hand ones or a hardcover so it wasn't as noticeable.

It was a rainy day and the store hadn't seen much action, the weather keeping away the usual flow of customers. She was sitting at her stool behind the counter with her newest read, eyes glued to the pages. "You shouldn't be reading," her coworker, Feuilly, whispered.

"Are you gonna tell on me?" she challenged.

"Course not. I do it all the time," he replied. Feuilly was like her. At college on scholarship, working part time and still getting decent grades. Feuilly disappeared into the back room. A tinkling bell alerted her to someone's entrance and she looked up just in time to see a guy stride purposefully towards the back of the store. Just as he disappeared behind a bookshelf, he pushed his red hood back and she caught a glimpse of his face. She wondered why he looked a little familiar. From the way he seemed to know exactly where to go, he was probably one of the store's usual patrons. The phone rang and she picked it up. "Thank you for calling Emerson's Bookstore. This is Eponine. How can I help you?"

"Ponine?" a little voice came in over the other end.

"Gav? What are you doing?" she asked. Her little brother should've been in school.

"Hi. Mom can't pick me up after school. Can you?" he asked.

"What's she doing? Why can't she?" Eponine questioned, frowning.

"Dunno. She didn't say. Can you though?" he asked.

"Well, I don't get off of work until four so…is there an after-school thing you can hang out at until I get there? I don't want you by yourself that long," she said.

"Umm…I can go to Elephant's!" he said, brightly. Elephant's was a local children's center. Her best friend Marius had told her about it and introduced Gavroche to the place. The little boy was often to be found there in his spare time. "Maybe Marius is there today, too," the little boy teased.

"Be quiet, you. Ok, I'll pick you up from Elphant's around 4:30, k?"

"Okey-dokey," he said. "I have to go so I'll see you later." The line went dead. Eponine looked up the directions to the children's center. She'd never actually been there before. When she finished writing it down, she went back to her book. Moments later she was interrupted by red-hoodie, emerging from behind the shelves, empty-handed. She quickly marked her place in her book and stuck it on the stool behind her as he came towards the counter.

"How can I help you?" she asked, politely.

"Do you know if you have any more copies of Orwell's _Animal Farm_. I looked on the shelves but it's not there," he said. _What a stud,_ Eponine thought vaguely. _Why does he look so familiar?_

"Um, well if it's not on the shelves I can check the inventory," she said, going to the computer. She typed in the name already knowing what would come up. "So…Animal Farm. Have you read it before?" she asked, conversationally.

"Yes actually. It's one of my favorites," he said. "I've actually got a copy but as you can see" – he held it up – "it's a bit…battered." His book was indeed worn – tattered edges, dog-eared pages. "Plus, my friend spilled paint over the first section and so most of my notes from that are ruined."

"Well, that's definitely a well-loved book," she remarked. "Well, it looks like _Animal Farm_ is out – "

"I see it there," he said, pointing. She tried not to grimace as she turned around and saw the book lying on the stool. Of course it _had_ to be the book she was reading. She knew that but still.

"Oh, haha. Good catch. I knew the title sounded familiar. I was supposed to catalog this earlier. Well, then," she picked up the book. "Will that be all?"

"Yes, thank you." He pulled out his wallet as she rung up the order, sighing over the lost book. She had almost been finished with it too. Damn.

She handed the book over and he thanked her again and started towards the door. "WAIT!" she almost shrieked. He spun around in surprise. "My bookmark!"

"Your what?" he asked, confusedly.

"I…uh…I put a piece of paper in that book," she said, awkwardly. "I need it."

He pulled the book out and flipped through the pages. He stopped when he found the paper. He pulled it out. "This it?"

"Yeah, thanks, sorry…I was reading the book and completely forgot and stuck the directions in there and um…yeah," she stopped realizing what she just said. She had just told the guy she'd been reading the book that moments ago she'd almost pretended to not have. She could've facepalmed right there.

"You were reading it?" he asked, in surprise.

"Yeahh," she said, slowly, rubbing the back of her neck and wishing she was out of this awkward situation.

"But you just said…" he trailed off, looking as confused as she felt awkward.

"Well, I've been reading it for the past week and I was almost done and so I was just gonna tell you that we were out of stock but we'd get a new shipment in by tomorrow but then you saw it so um….yeah. Sorry," she apologized.

"No problem…I guess. Good book though, right?" he said.

"Mhm," she replied. _No, no. Don't make conversation. Just leave, so we can end this awkwardness,_ she pleaded in her mind. He stepped back towards the cash register and placed the directions on the counter. "Thanks," she said, sliding the paper towards herself.

"No problem," he said. He didn't make a move to leave, though. So she started talking just to alleviate the awkwardness.

"Yeah, it's um, directions to this children's center my brother hangs out at. Elephant's. I'm supposed to pick him up after my shift so I needed the directions. Good thing I remembered, too!" she said with false cheer.

"Elephant's?" his face brightened. _Damn, he's good looking_, she thought. "I know Elephant's. My friend and I volunteer there."

"Oh, really? That's cool. Yeah, we found out about it through a friend who also volunteers there," she said. _Why are you making small talk, Mr. Beautiful-man? Just go and end the awkwardness._

"No kidding! What's your friend's name? Maybe I know them," he said.

"Uh, Marius. Marius Pontmercy," she replied.

"Marius?! Seriously! That's the friend I was talking about. You know Marius?" he asked, incredulously. It suddenly clicked in Eponine's head why he looked so familiar. She'd seen him before, talking to Marius when she waited outside the dorm for her friend.

"Wow! Small world," she said, laughing. "Crazy, the way things work."

"Yeah, yeah, definitely," he said, smiling. _Ok, seriously. Stop being so attractive!_ Their polite chuckles faded into silence and he once again seemed uninterested in leaving. Suddenly, as though seeming to come to a decision he pulled out his old copy of _Animal Farm_. "I know this seems really weird and like it's a terrible copy…like it's all worn and stuff but I don't know…if you want you can take it….or just borrow it even. This probably seems really creepy or something but seriously it's an amazing book and I recommend it to everyone I know and I would hate to deprive you of the ending because I know I always hate when that happens to me – not finishing a book. It's just I feel bad about taking the book you were reading, y'know?" He said this all very rushed and looked so sincere Eponine couldn't help smiling.

"Um, thanks?" she said. "That's very sweet. I'll make sure Marius gives it back to you."

"Yeah, don't mention it. I just…I feel that everyone should be able to read that book and I would loathe myself for depriving you of that. See you around then," he waved cheerfully and walked out of the store, leaving Eponine very much surprised by the sudden chain of events.

* * *

The memory overwhelmed her with sadness. She buried her face in her hands and tried not to cry. She hadn't let herself cry over the break-up. She was determined to leave him behind and start fresh with her new life. But, _damn_, if she didn't miss him so much. She pictured his face when she'd announced she was leaving. The complete and utter shock and confusion plastered on it. She had been doing this all morning every time she felt on the verge of crying. The memory would make her angry all over again and save her from having a public break-down. But now, when she summoned up the memory, it only made her just a little angry. It wasn't quite enough to keep a few tears slipping down. She brushed them away in annoyance. _Don't think about him, Eponine. Pull yourself together. You dumped him after all. _She glared angrily at the bookstore. _Stop reminding me of him,_ she mentally yelled at it. She stood up at as her boarding for her flight began. She forced herself to focus on her new life in California. New job, new home, new friends. The thought didn't quite comfort her like she wanted it to.


	3. Chapter 3

Enjolras was still on the floor of Marius and Cosette's kitchen. He was wrapped in the fuzzy blanket, clutching a beer, warmed beyond drinkability. Bahorel and Feuilly had arrived at some point and later Joly, who had gone into a panic attack when he saw Enjolras' state. ("Is he sick? What's wrong? Is he sick? Can I help? Does he need a doctor? Is he sick?") When the shock of Enjolras shedding actual human tears had subsided, his friends had tried to comfort him as best as they could. Grantaire shoved a beer into his hand. "Drink it. It'll help you feel less douche-y." Marius had began babbling on about Eponine and how she was doing and he was sure she'd be fine but she was kinda cut up about the whole thing so he hoped she was ok and Enjolras wasn't sure how this was supposed to be comforting. Cosette intervened, sending Marius off to go do something, and sat down with Enjolras. "If you two are really meant to be together, you'll find a way back to each other," she said, soothingly rubbing his back. She was by far the most comforting. Somewhere inside, Enjolras knew he was glad his friends were still there for them, even if an hour ago they had all been ready to see him boiled alive. He thought his emotional break-down probably had something to do with their shift in attitude. But now he sat in this sort of catatonic state. Every ten minutes or so, he would make a random remark, usually about Eponine.

"I remember when I first met her, I gave her this really ratty old copy of _Animal Farm_," he announced to whoever was listening. His four male friends had ceased to pay any attention to his comments. Cosette would sometimes nod or "mhm" in response from her place at the kitchen table but she was a little more invested in whatever was on her laptop. Ten minutes later it was, "Did you know she's left handed? It always made it awkward when we sat next to each other at restaurants." And then later, "One of her favorite smells is that smell after the rain. She told me it's called petrichor."

"Seriously, what thought process are you following? Or is it just like a generic reflection on every detail of Eponine?" Grantaire drawled, as he came into the kitchen for another beer.

"Leave him alone, Taire," Cosette remonstrated, gently. "He's in shock."

"Maybe if he paid attention her leaving wouldn't have been such a surprise," Grantaire muttered. Enjolras ignored the comment causing his two friends to exchange worried glances over his head. Unresponsive Enjolras wasn't anything new. When he became absorbed in something, he didn't pay much attention to anything else. Grantaire alone possessed the magical power of getting Enjolras' attention when he was engrossed in whatever had captured his interest. It was usually because he said something provoking and Enjolras had given him attention enough to make some angry retort. At the moment though, Enjolras didn't have the heart to get angry. Besides he agreed with him. A very, extremely rare occasion.

"C'mon, Enjolras," Grantaire attempted again. "Go do something besides wasting an entire bottle of Stella Artois. That's a scandal. Or if you're not going to drink it, give it to me and I will." When Enjolras continued to ignore him, Grantaire walked over to him, squatted down to his level and reached for the beer. Enjolras jerked the bottle away from his grasp and Grantaire smiled, pleased to have gotten some sort of reaction. "Give it here. You're not even drinking it." He tried to take it again but was met with an angry glare and Enjolras turning around. Undismayed, Grantaire stepped around him and tried again to take the bottle. Enjolras swatted his hand away.

"Get your own beer and keep your hands off mine," Enjolras snapped. "Seriously, you have no regards for personal boundaries. You're like this annoying little two-year-old that just pushes himself into everyone's way." Grantaire straightened back up and grinned at Cosette. He hadn't lost his magic touch.

"Ok, ok, grumpy-pants. I'm leaving," Grantaire said, exiting the kitchen.

Enjolras sighed and hunched his shoulders again. Stupid Grantaire and his idiot skill to get a rise out of him. That had been why Eponine and the drunk had bonded so well. They'd both discovered early on their uncanny ability to get on his nerves.

* * *

One day Enjolras had installed himself in Marius' dorm, typing away at his laptop. He and Marius weren't roommates but Enjolras was there enough to be one. Enjolras' roommate was a little too disturbing for him to work in peace. "Hey, I'm having people over for a study group so you might want to move," Marius told him, as he dug through the piles of laundry for a clean shirt. Enjolras merely grunted in response.

"Joly, where's my green shirt I was wearing yesterday?" Marius asked his roommate, having dumped a whole basket of laundry on the ground

"I put it in the wash," the young med student informed him.

"It wasn't dirty! And it's not even your shirt," Marius grumbled.

"You wore it yesterday, of course it was dirty," Joly insisted. Marius grabbed a shirt from the dirty laundry pile and threw it at his friend, who dodged it as though it were the plague. The shirt landed on Enjolras.

"Can you not throw stuff at me?" Enjolras growled, hurling the shirt back towards its owner.

"You probably will be less annoyed and less distracted if you go back to your own dorm," Marius hinted. Enjolras didn't respond. Marius shrugged and continued his quest for clean clothes. "Well, if you're going to stay," Marius began a few moments later, "Then please do make an attempt to be civil. Supposedly, you haven't been the nicest person to my friends."

"What? I don't talk to your friends. I don't even know who your friends are," Enjolras said, defensively.

"You know Ponine," Marius pointed out.

"Who?"

"Eponine," Marius replied and then seeing the blank look. "Eponine Thenardier. You know! The one who you gave the book to."

"Oh," Enjolras exclaimed, recognition dawning on his face. "The bookshop girl."

Marius gave him an exasperated look. "Bookshop girl? Seriously? You can't even remember her name? You gave her a book for crying out loud!"

"Doesn't mean I have to remember her name," Enjolras huffed. It wasn't like he could go around remembering everyone who he came into contact with. Besides, he got the impression she didn't like him and therefore further association with her wasn't necessary.

"This is what I'm talking about!" Marius said. "At first she was talking all about my super nice friend who let her borrow his book and then she actually tried talking to you and you completely blew her off. Like, what the hell?"

"I was in the middle of something," Enjolras protested. "She was kinda interrupting me."

"Yeah, but when someone is interrupting you don't just flat out tell them that!" Marius told him.

"Well, excuse me if I was too busy to exchange civil pleasantries with her but I had a very important paper. And I have one now and you're distracting me from it so shut up." Marius threw up his arms in annoyance. Enjolras settled back down to typing and ignored him. At times like these, all Enjolras wanted to do was live in the library. But it was late and the library had already closed so he had to content himself with Marius' dorm. His own dorm wasn't an option. There was a knocking on the door and he heard Marius go to get it.

A few moments later who should walk in but Enjolras' eternally drunk roommate, Grantaire. "Hey, I know you, don't I?" Grantaire said, pulling a look of deep concentration. Enjolras opened his mouth to say something but Grantaire cut him off. "No, shh. Don't say anything. I'll think of it. Oh wait! Yes, you're my roommate, right?" Enjolras only replied with an annoyed look. Grantaire laughed. "Last time I saw you, I think, was when you gave me this super long lecture about underage drinking. That was what two weeks ago. It's been a while," Grantaire said, grinning.

"It's not my fault you're always unconscious when I'm there," Enjolras retorted.

"Well, it's your fault for not being around when I _am _conscious," Grantaire replied, smirking. Enjolras elected to ignore this comment. "There's a third person helping us, right?" Grantaire turned to Marius. "Because I'd feel a little bad if you had to do all the work by yourself, seeing as I have no idea what I'm doing."

"He said he might be late," Marius said just as someone knocked on the door. "Or not." Marius stood and went to the door.

"So, just for clarification, I am most likely conscious between the hours of 10am and noon, weekdays only. My conscious hours on weekends are a little hard to predict but usually 2pm until 1am. So, do feel free to drop by our dorm and we can have a nice little chat, roomie. Although I should warn you, my hangovers are generally at the worst just after I've woken up," Grantaire informed him, looking quite serious. Enjolras fixed him with an icy glare to which Grantaire responded with a charming smile. At this moment, Marius reentered trailing another guy and bookshop girl behind him. Enjolras had seen her several times since they'd first met. Once when she'd given back his book, a couple times around campus and once when she had come over to visit Marius. All their conversations had been short as she always seemed to come up to him when he was deeply involved in something important.

"Feuilly's here. Eponine came along too. They finished their shift at the same time," Marius announced. Enjolras found her gaze as she entered and he caught the immediate look of distaste she sent him.

"Oh, hi Enjolras!" she said with affected sweetness. "I hope I'm not _interrupting _anything."

"Oh, no, it's fine," Enjolras mimicked her sarcastic politeness. "By all means, continue on with your socializing. Pay no mind to me. I'm doing absolutely nothing important."

"Well, if that's the case, you can help us with our stuff," Grantaire piped up.

"Yeah, that sounds great since you're not doing anything important," Eponine added.

Enjolras glared at the pair who glanced at each other and giggled.

"I don't believe we've met. Grantaire," he said, extending a hand.

She shook it, grinning. "Charmed. I'm Eponine. I have a feeling we're going to get along smashingly," she said. Enjolras groaned and buried his face in his hands.

* * *

Enjolras was jerked out of his reverie again by Grantaire. "I promised her I would take care of you," his friend said, quite seriously. "I'm going to keep that promise too."

"I don't need you to take care of me, Grantaire. I'll be fine," Enjolras muttered.

"You've been sitting on the floor in a blanket for the past three hours," Grantaire told him. "That's not fine. So, here, have a cold beer. She wouldn't want you just sitting around sulking."

"I want her back, Taire," Enjolras admitted, hopelessly.

"Then go do something about it," Grantaire said. "You can be so stupid sometimes." Enjolras glared at him but then smiled, just a little bit. Grantaire could always get a reaction out of Enjolras. And it didn't always have to be a negative one.

**A/N: Just so nobody worries, all the barricade boys will be in this story. They just didn't all go to college together. But Eponine will be meeting the rest soon. And thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed and favourited. You guys are the bestest!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hi beautiful readers! Thanks for the love. Sorry, there's been so many flashbacks but I still have to work out some stuff with the actual plot. **

Eponine stared out the plane window, watching the expanse of clouds beneath her. She had the various paperwork she needed for her new job spread out on the little pull-out table and kept herself busy constructing happy plans for the future. With her headphones in, listening to all the upbeat songs in her "Good Times" playlist, she had almost convinced herself she was fine. Then a new song came on. Her head went up, her jaw clenched and she had the sudden and irritatingly overwhelming urge to cry. She wanted to skip the song but something inside wouldn't let her. This was their song. Unofficially, of course. They weren't all cute and gushy like that, having a song or whatever but this was _their_ song. It was the song they danced to the night they became friends. Because she could give you the exact date and time of the start of their friendship.

* * *

It wasn't that they weren't friends. They had the same friends, hung out in the same group often. Actually, out of everyone in that little circle she probably saw him most often. Her frequent visits to Marius' dorm and his frequent presence in said room as well as her almost daily visits to go help Grantaire out of an alcohol induced stupor meant that they saw each other all the time. It's not that they didn't talk to each other, either. If she was feeling nice, they'd exchange a handful of polite words. If she wasn't feeling especially nice, she'd tease him about something or other. He'd either retort or give her an icy glare. Either way it made her laugh.

"He's really not that bad," Marius had said, one day. They were lounging in his room sans Enjolras. He was probably in the library. "It's just that when he's really into some research or whatever, he doesn't like being bothered. When he doesn't have anything important due, he's cool."

"I know," she said. "I've noticed it." And she had. Through his sometimes anti-social attitude Eponine had caught glimpses of a charming young man. Usually when he had just turned in a paper or just gotten an assignment back (of course with top marks) he was relaxed enough to join their goofing-off. "When it all comes down to it," Eponine said, meditatively, "He's really nothing more than a big drama queen." Marius burst out laughing.

"Well, that's not exactly what I'd describe him as but…I guess," he laughed again. Eponine got a little distracted watching him laugh. The way his eyes lit up, the way his nose wrinkled up….he was so damn cute.

"Well, think about it. He just throws these really big fits about everything whether it's politics or school or the burger he ordered, he has a cow over _everything_," she said. Marius started laughing again and Eponine had to hold back a dreamy sigh.

"Only when he's stressed," Marius reminded her.

"Which is basically always. He lives in this constant state of stress," she pointed out. The door burst open and Grantaire and Bahorel stumbled in. They'd met Bahorel after Grantaire started drunkenly singing outside someone's window. That someone was Bahorel who came down and punched the living daylights out of Taire to show his appreciation for the serenade.

"You'll never believe what we just did. It's freaking awesome. I'm so brilliant I surprised myself," Grantaire said, gleefully.

"What?" Eponine sat up.

"It all started when we saw all the sign-ups for charity week and stuff. Y'know how it's next week and their raising money and having all these fundraisers and there's gonna be like student bands and food and stupid games and – "

"Yeah, yeah, I know what charity week is," Eponine cut Bahorel off. He had a tendency to ramble on.

"Well, there was this girl who was flirting with Bahorel and so of course he has to go over to talk to her," Grantaire picked up the story.

"In my defense, she was super cute. I think I've seen her around before. She gave me her number," Bahorel cut in.

"_Anyways,_" Grantaire fixed him with a look, "She was trying to get people to sign up for the male auction and thought Bahorel here might like to. So she keeps pushing the clipboard at him and, obviously, he doesn't really want to do it. So then I get this great idea and I tell the girl, that I'll put his information down for him. But I don't sign up Bahorel."

"YOU SIGNED UP ENJOLRAS!" Eponine shouted, coming to the conclusion.

Grantaire pouted. "You totally stole my thunder. Not cool." She was too busy rolling around on the bed laughing to notice. Even Marius was chuckling. "Do not tell him, though. We're gonna figure out a way to get him onstage that day. Tell him it's some sort of public speaking contest or something." His friends grinned at the evil genius of the plan.

When the day of the male auction arrived, Marius, Eponine, Joly and Feuilly stood among the crowd near the stage. "Where are they? Isn't it starting like in five minutes?" Joly asked anxiously. "I don't want to stand in the cold too long."

"Calm down, Joly. You won't die. And I don't know where they are. I texted Taire but he's not responding. Last I heard they were going to get him," she said, pulling out her battered old phone to check for messages.

"Oh, look, here they come!" Marius grabbed her arm and pointed but she was too busy focusing on the warm pressure on her wrist to pay much attention. It was a strange looking group. Bahorel had a hand on Enjolras' shoulder, like he was guiding him. Enjolras himself marched along, looking like he was going to be executed. Grantaire followed behind, looking like he was trying not to keel over and die of laughter. Eponine quickly jumped and down, waving her arms to get his attention. Taire spotted them and quickly wormed his way through the crowd to them.

"How'd it go?" Marius asked.

"Well, a little better than I expected. We tried with the whole public speaking contest thing but apparently he's been helping with organizing this whole thing and he knew there wasn't one. So we just confessed and he was super mad at first and told us he wasn't going but then Bahorel reminded him it was for charity and if he backed out now, they would lose a chance at raising more funds. So he finally came with us," Grantaire explained, before taking a swig from his flask. "This is going to be good. Just wait until you hear what we wrote for his little description thingy."

Their attention turned back towards the stage as a speaker came up and announced the first male. Enjolras was somewhere in the middle of the list of guys. Eponine was surprised at just how much money the girls were blowing on a date with the guys. Either they were extremely charitable (she doubted it from the dirty looks they were giving each other) or they were majorly crushing on the guys. "Oh, oh, here he comes!" Bahorel said, practically bouncing up and down with excitement.

"Our next male is a first year student here. He has been very active in the political scene here on campus and was a great deal of help with organizing events for charity week," the speaker announced and Enjolras made his way to the front of the stage. There was a loud burst of cheering and Eponine could see him searching the crowd for them. "He prefers to go by his last name, Enjolras, and is involved in the debate club. His other hobbies include origami and baking. He enjoys watching reality TV and has all 10 seasons of Friends." There was laughter and whoops and if looks could kill, Eponine was fairly certain Taire and Bahorel would be shot, drowned, boiled in oil and served for dinner by this time. She couldn't help giggling although there was a slight twinge of guilt. It was all fun and games to tease him and make him squirm, but this was definitely humiliatingly mortifying. The bidding began and the price quickly escalated. "His face is raising more money than his speeches and crap," Bahorel remarked.

"See, he'll thank us for this later. Look at how much money he's helping raise," Grantaire said, smugly. "Blondie over there is going to blow them all out of the water." It seemed that a very determined blonde girl had no qualms about spending money to get a date with Enjolras. Enjolras had ceased to glare at them and was now staring quite fixedly at some spot in the distance. "He'll never live this down," Feuilly laughed.

"Do I hear $250? $250?" the auctioneer shouted. Eponine's hand shot up. "Thank you do I hear $275?" The blonde raised her hand. "$300? Do I hear $300?" Eponine's hand shot up.

"Ponine what are you doing?" Marius asked, baffled.

"He's getting humiliated," she said, with a shrug.

"That's the point, darling," Grantaire said.

"C'mon. He's your friend, guys," she said, raising her hand again.

"Correction. He's my roommate," Taire pointed out.

"Eponine, you're going to ruin half the fun," Bahorel pleaded.

"You should help me pay for it. As an apology to Enjolras," Eponine told him raising her hand again. Blondie was getting a little annoyed.

"Eponine's right," Joly spoke up. "Enjolras doesn't deserve this. Beside we don't know who that girl is. What if she tries to kiss him and has some sort of disease?"

"C'mon guys, we'll pool our money," Marius put in. Eponine beamed up at him. Taire and Bahorel made faces, but a stern glare from her had them agreeing. The bidding began in earnest and Eponine and her friends raised the price resolutely. Blondie finally dropped out at $750.

"Holy crap, we just spent over half a grand on a date with _Enjolras_," Bahorel said, morosely.

"Thanks, boys," Eponine grinned. She was devastatingly glad they'd agreed to help because she certainly didn't have $750 lying around. Enjolras made his way through the crowd towards them.

"You guys are idiots," he said.

"Just be thankful you didn't have to go on a date with blondie," Joly said. "Eponine made us buy you."

His eyes flicked to her and she shrugged. "Thanks," he said nodding towards her. Then after a moment, "Why did you?"

"I don't know. You just looked so awkward up there, I felt bad I guess," she muttered.

"I thought you of all people would enjoy my discomfort," he said, a little harshly.

"Contrary to some people," she said, gesturing to Grantaire and Bahorel, "I know when to stop."

"Well, thank you. I'm glad not everyone here is a – "

"Money-raising beast!" Grantaire finished for him. "While we're on the topic of money, I did just agree to donate almost $800 to your precious charities so do remember that and be merciful." Enjolras seemed to be carefully regarding him and then smiled.

"It was kinda funny, I guess," he said. There was a synchronized jaw drop. Enjolras laughed at them. "What? I do have a sense of humor."

"No you don't. In the three months I've known you, I've only seen evidence of the contrary," Grantaire said.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that the part of your brain that detects humor is malformed," Joly added. Enjolras laughed again, officially spooking his friends. Yeah, they'd seen him loosen up but laughing at one of their pranks? Completely out of the question. When they finally realized he had, in fact, been slightly amused by the whole thing, Bahorel asked, "So since I'm helping pay for this, do I get to be your date today?"

"Well, Bahorel, if you're interested in ruining your reputation as a very attractive straight man, sure," Enjolras joked. Bahorel chuckled.

"He's actually funny," Eponine whispered to Marius.

"Told you he was cool," Marius whispered back, winking. Eponine tried not to swoon at that. They wandered around the rest of the day eating the terrible and overpriced food, listening to student bands and just in general having a good time. They discovered early on that the cause for Enjolras' good mood and lack of stress was that he had just got his paper back and received top marks. (As if he could get anything else.) They also guessed that their huge donation might have contributed to it, too.

Over the course of the day, they lost Grantaire in the bar where he produced a very believable fake I.D. and then lost Bahorel to a flirtatious sophomore. Feuilly left to go to work. As the sun began to slip down, Joly left to the dorm because he said they would all die of pneumonia if they stayed out in the cold. Marius soon followed because Joly called and seemed to be having a panic attack because Marius left a box of cookies out and ants had attacked it. Eponine found herself alone with Enjolras and not completely adverse to that fact. She teased him and he still got a little riled up but he took it all much better. They found themselves near the stage again where a band was playing a slow song. There was a space cleared for dancing where a half dozen couples were draped over each other and swaying to and fro. "I love this song! C'mon, let's dance!" she said, impulsively, pulling him out with her. He spluttered and protested but came with her. Eponine discovered he was a fantastic dancer. He like actually knew how to waltz and stuff. Apparently his mother made him take ballroom lessons or something. _Crazy rich people_, Eponine thought to herself. As the song ended and Enjolras gently twirled her around the sudden thought flashed through her mind that at some point in the day, she and Enjolras had become friends.

* * *

The song ended on Eponine's iPod and she faced the window, so that her fellow passenger couldn't see her crying. This really wasn't a great beginning to her new life. Seriously she was the one who had dumped him. _Get your act together, Eponine, or you'll just end up miserably heartbroken the rest of your life._ She couldn't wait to get to California and start her work. That would at least provide a distraction from her sad, nostalgic thoughts. Her wish was granted as the captain's voice came over the speakers announcing that they would be touching down in twenty minutes. She hurriedly wiped away the tears and pushed away thoughts of Enjolras.


	5. Chapter 5

Grantaire started as phone buzzed, announcing a text. He pulled it out and shouted, disturbing everyone's movie watching experience. "She's landed! Ep's in California," he yelled. They all crowded around him to see the little glowing screen and the handful words. _Just landed. Call you soon._ He quickly texted back. _Awesome. At Marius' and Zette's. Can't wait to hear from you. _They were all excitedly babbling about they were so happy and oh good for her and tell us when she calls. Nobody noticed Enjolras burying his head back into the blanket.

After Taire had told him to go _do something_ earlier that day he promptly downed his bottle of beer and then a couple more and a few more after that and then by that time he was drunkenly ranting about pet abuse or something. "Why'd you get him drunk?" Joly demanded as he shoved the stumbling Enjolras off him.

"I didn't. I just told him to go do something about his broken heart. I didn't know he was going to go get himself drunk. Besides, he's such a lightweight. He gets drunk after like two beers," Grantaire said defensively. They watched as their inebriated friend raged at a chair he'd stumbled into.

"Can you please calm him down? Or get him out of the house?" Cosette pleaded. "Giving him alcohol was probably the worst idea on planet earth, Taire."

"Why is everyone blaming me? I didn't force him to get drunk. He did it on his own," Grantaire protested. He led his friend outside, just in time, too, for he promptly hurled the contents of his stomach into a garbage can. When he finally stopped retching, he sat on the doorstep and quietly cried again. Grantaire could do nothing but stand awkwardly by and give evil glares at anyone passing by. When Enjolras finally calmed down, the pair went back into the house where the others had started a movie. They settled down and Enjolras let the images on the screen distract him. Taire's triumphant announcement sent him back down into the depths of dismal reality. "Oh, Enj," Cosette said, softly, noticing him. "You gonna be alright?"

He shrugged. "I guess. I don't really know. I'm not really sure what to do, y'know?" he confessed. "Should I call her? Send her something? Like what should I do, Zette?" He looked like a lost child, something completely knew for the man usually brimming with confidence.

Cosette slid off the couch to wrap her arms around him. The two shared an odd bond, her sweet gentleness always soothing his fiery passion. "Honey, I don't know. If you know why she left then you know where the problem is. You'll just have to find some way to fix the problem. And if in the end, you can't, then you'll just have to accept that," she said, comfortingly. He remained quiet, a little frown appearing as though he were deep in thought. The only sounds were the forgotten movie and Bahorel's snoring. The house phone rang and everyone started. "I should go," Enjolras rose quickly, glancing around.

"That's probably Eponine. Don't you want to stay and you can apologize to her?" Marius spoke up. Feuilly promptly told him to shut up. Everyone shot him pointed looks and he shrank back into the cushions.

Enjolras shook his head, emphatically. "Night, guys. Thanks for…..thanks," he mumbled. He picked up the blanket and quickly walked out the door.

"You're an idiot, Marius. Of course, he doesn't want to stay around and talk to Ep," Joly berated him. "That was entirely indelicate."

"Sorry," Marius muttered.

"Well, go get the phone, someone!" Grantaire yelled. "And from now on, nobody gets to make Enjolras feel bad about his break-up except me."

Enjolras drove home, went to his room and fell asleep almost immediately. When he woke up, he could smell coffee. Why could he smell coffee? He hadn't made coffee. So why was there coffee? Damn, his head hurt. He sat up slowly, still in his clothes from last night and stumbled into the kitchen. "Taire? What are you doing? Why and how are you here?"

In reply he held up a key. "She gave it to me before you left," Grantaire replied. A dark look crossed his face. He went and poured himself a cup of coffee and then stalked back into his room. He slammed the door. Taire shrugged and made himself comfortable on the couch, flipping on the TV. A couple hours later, he heard the door open and Enjolras came out looking disheveled. He rummaged in the cupboards, poured himself a bowl of cereal and went back into his room without a word. Grantaire shrugged and turned his attention back to TV.

Next thing he knew he was being roughly shaken awake by Enjolras. "Don't you have anywhere to be?" Enjolras demanded of him.

"Yeah," Grantaire replied. "Here."

"Why here? I _can_ kick you out. And you have no reason to be here," Enjolras returned.

"I told Ep I was gonna make sure you were ok," Grantaire told him.

"I can take care of myself," Enjolras growled.

"You've locked yourself in your room the entire day, eaten nothing but cereal, done nothing at all to change from your clothes from yesterday except to ditch the shirt. I'm pretty certain you haven't even brushed your teeth. Not to mention the big blaring you haven't gone to work deal. You're not coping with this break up very well," Taire told him, pointedly. Enjolras scowled and stormed back to his room. He stayed there the rest of the day.

The following week various friends dropped by to make sure he was ok. Each of them did their best to make him come out of his room. Bahorel pounded and pounded on the door to no avail. Feuilly stood outside and tried to reason with him but was met with silence. Marius just started talking about remembering the good times and moving on and was told to shut the hell up. Joly expounded on the dangers of staying cooped up in a room. Cosette cleaned up his apartment, brought groceries and went to the door every five minutes to ask if he wanted to talk about it. He was definitely the nicest to her. He opened the door and thanked her politely for her help and told her he was fine. Then closed the door in her face. Grantaire for his part didn't actively try to get him out of his room. He just tried to annoy him out. That's what he was best at after all. He would lounge around the apartment, turning up the TV volume really loud and yelling at the screen. When that didn't work he took to blasting break-up music from his laptop. "When I Was Your Man" was the most frequently played song.

Friday night he finally met with success. "Grantaire!" Enjolras shouted, throwing the door open and stomping out to the kitchen. Grantaire looked up from his phone.

"Yes?" he asked innocently.

"Stop playing that song," Enjolras demanded.

"Why?"

"It's getting annoying. You've had it on replay for the past hour."

"I like this song."

"I don't."

"Why? Bruno is amazing." Grantaire smiled smugly, tipping his chair back. The phone in his hand rang. He glanced down at it, back at Enjolras and grinned. "How's my girl?" Grantaire said as he answered the phone. "California weather still amazing?" he asked. _It's Eponine_, he mouthed. Enjolras glared at him for a few seconds before turning on his heel and walking back to his room.

"I'm good. Great. I started working yesterday and I'm exhausted. I was putting all my stuff in order. I've got a _ton_ of books, I realized. How are things back there?" Eponine's voice came over, cheerfully.

"Good, good. Everyone's good," Grantaire replied, while he wondered if he should tell her about Enjolras.

"Yeah, I just got off the phone with Zette. She says you're all keeping an eye on Enjolras," Eponine said, casually.

"He's become a hermit. Even more than he normally is. I've sorta been living at his place for the past week and he doesn't come out of his room," Grantaire explained.

"Not even for work?" she asked, surprised.

"Nope. Although I think I've heard him on the phone a couple times so maybe he's doing it there," he told her. Enjolras worked as a political analyst for some political campaign thing and it wasn't completely unheard of for him to work from home.

"That's weird. He doesn't do that a lot," Eponine commented.

"He doesn't get his heart broken a lot," Grantaire replied. He could practically hear her frowning.

"Well, if he doesn't want his heart broken then he shouldn't have treated me like that," she spat.

"No one's blaming you, hon. It's just that we've got an unresponsive heartbroken Enjy and no one knows how to deal with it," he said, gently.

"He's a big boy. He'll get over it eventually," she said with a sigh.

"What about you? Are you getting over it?" Grantaire asked.

"I'm the one who dumped him remember?" she said, with a light laugh.

"I know. But I know you still love him," he said.

"It'll take time, Taire. I'll be fine. Plus I've got work to keep me busy which apparently he doesn't so I'll be just fine," she said, trying too hard to sound cheerful.

"Speaking of being busy how was work?" he asked, sensing it was best to change the subject.

"Oh, let me tell you about it. It was….interesting," she said, laughing and this time in earnest.

**A/N: Sorry, if anyone feels Enjolras is being OOC. I just always felt like he would not do well with break-ups. And so next chapter we meet a few more barricade boys! Thanks for the reviews/favorites/follows. They mean a lot. You guys are all kinds of awesome.**


	6. Chapter 6

Eponine was exhausted as she stumbled into her new apartment. The bed wasn't set up yet but there was a mattress propped against a wall. There were no sheets but she wasn't even going to bother looking through the dozens of boxes for some. She dropped her luggage on the ground, staggered to the mattress and pushed it to the floor. She would sort out what to do about food and unpacking and other responsible adult things but right now she just wanted to curl up like a baby. She collapsed onto the mattress, thinking that Joly would probably give her a telling off about the unhealthiness of sleeping on uncovered mattresses. A small smile appeared on her face as she drifted off to sleep.

She woke in the morning, completely disoriented. _Stupid time difference_, she thought as she glanced at her cell phone and saw it was only 6:45am. What was she supposed to do this early in the morning? There was too much day ahead. She sighed and stretched and made a mental note never to sleep in jeans again. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around the room, lit only by pre-dawn light. She started shuffling around the boxes, poking around looking for the one with her clothes. She cursed herself for not having labeled them before. After opening a box of dishes, two boxes of books (why did she have so many books anyways?) and a box of shoes she finally found one with clothes. She dressed, threw her hair up in a ponytail and then realized that she was absolutely starving. Airport food was hellaciously expensive and she hadn't eaten since lunch the previous day. She opened the door to her apartment, praying there was a donut shop nearby or a drug store or something. She headed for the stairs and was met at the top by a young man. He smiled kindly at her, murmuring, "Good morning."

"Hey, I'm new here. Do you know if there's like a donut shop or something nearby where I can get breakfast?" she asked.

"You're new? Are you in apartment 25?" he asked, pushing his shaggy reddish-brown hair away from his face.

"Yeah," she replied.

He clapped his hands excitedly and Eponine was pretty certain he would've hugged her, too, if she hadn't given him such a strange look. "Sorry, I've been waiting to meet you. I saw all your stuff being moved in and couldn't wait to see what sort of person you were." At her slightly confused smile, he looked abash. "Erm, I live next door. Name's Jehan." She shook the proffered hand and introduced herself as well. "Oooh, Eponine. That's a pretty name. So many things rhyme with Eponine."

"Thanks…I think?" she said, trying not to laugh at her absurdly bubbly new neighbor.

"Oh, food!" he suddenly exclaimed. "C'mon there's a great little bakery around the corner. My friend runs it. I go there all the time." He turned back around and headed down the stairs, Eponine following. Jehan chattered amiably as they walked the short distance. She noticed he would sometimes leave off in the middle of a sentence to remark about how pretty the sky was or the flowers growing near the sidewalk.

A tinkling bell announced their arrival into the bakery. The warm smell of baking bread assaulted her senses and her stomach rumbled. "Chetta!" Jehan called and a pretty petite woman came out of the back, wiping floury hands on her apron.

"Hey, Jehan! Who's your friend?" the lady asked, leaning on the counter, smiling.

"This is Eponine. She's my new neighbor. This is Musichetta. She runs the best bakery in the world," Jehan said with conviction.

"I'm the only bakery you've ever been in, silly," she said with a laugh. "Nice to meet you, Eponine. If you ever need anything I'm just around the corner."

"Nice to meet you, too," Eponine smiled.

"What can I get for you?" Musichetta asked, gesturing to her impressive display of baked goods. Eponine wandered over to inspect them more closely, her mouth watering. "So Jehan have you written a poem about her already?" Musichetta asked over her shoulder, as she busied herself with the coffee machine.

"About me?" Eponine spoke up, surprised.

"He didn't tell you? He's a poet and a very good one, too. He can literally make up poems in a couple minutes," Musichetta said, smiling at the blushing Jehan.

"Chetta, you're embarrassing me. And yes, I did make up a poem. Right as we walked in," he said.

"Well, let's hear it," Musichetta demanded.

"No, I'm sure Eponine is probably weirded out enough by me as it is," he protested, gently.

"No, not at all. I want to hear the poem. No one's ever written a poem about me," she said, genuinely pleased by it.

"Ok, well it's not that good but," he launched into some flowery lyrical poem that seemed pretty damn good to Eponine. He grinned at its conclusion and Musichetta clapped.

"That's so beautiful," Eponine said, smiling widely, actually genuinely touched. "I love it."

"You'll find that nothing can make a bad day better like one of Jehan's poems," Musichetta said, sincerely. "The day one of his poems doesn't make me smile will be the day I die."

"Well, than I shall fill a whole book of poems and you can always read them and always smile and you'll never have to die," Jehan said, proudly. Eponine just kinda stood there awkwardly, wondering if they were together or something and feeling very third-wheelish.

"Um," she cleared her throat. "I'll have a chocolate croissant."

Musichetta turned her attention to her. "No problem. Anything else? Coffee? Tea?"

"Coffee sounds good," Eponine said, politely.

"I'll pay for it," Jehan spoke up.

"Oh, no. I can't let you!" Eponine said, appalled that this practically stranger was trying to pay for her drink.

"I insist," he said, already pulling out his wallet. Eponine shook her head emphatically.

"No, no. Don't worry about it. Please, don't pay for me," she begged. She hated accepting charity from people. It made her feel like she was less than them.

"Chetta, back me up on this. It's my welcoming gift. I was going to bring you over cookies, anyways," Jehan pleaded.

Musichetta grinned. "Eponine, listen! I think you should know this now. Jehan is aggressively nice. If you don't let him be nice, he will become an annoying little puppy dog and follow you around whining until he can clean your house or something. You just can't contain his niceness," Musichetta said, seriously. Eponine raised her eyebrows, bemused. She had just been told that if she didn't let this guy that she'd literally met twenty minutes ago be nice to her he would turn into the Incredible Hulk but a nice version.

"Chetta, we've confused her. Let's start over. Eponine, as a gentleman and you're new neighbor, I would be honored if you would allow me to pay for your croissant and coffee as a welcoming gift. I also apologize for weirding you out with our poetry and overall strangeness," he said, gallantly. Eponine laughed. How could she say no to that puppy dog face?

"Sure, go ahead," she laughed. "And I don't really mind the strangeness. You kinda remind me of my friends back home. Just completely random but you totally understand each other," she said. The thought of her friends almost made her choke up.

"Oh, no. You're homesick," Musichetta said, catching the hint of sadness in her tone. "Aw, love, c'mon. Tell us all about them. It'll help you. Trust me. Tell us all about your friends." She came around the counter with food and Eponine allowed her to lead her to a table by the window. Over a steaming cup of coffee and faced with two new friends, insistent that she spill her life story, she told them about her life in New York. They in turn told her all about their lives. Jehan worked at a preschool, had been living here for the past three years. Musichetta had gone to culinary school in California and ended up staying. They had been friends since Jehan moved in and came to the bakery on his first day, immediately spewing out a poem about her pastries. For the first time since she'd left (had it only been a day ago?) Eponine was not sad.

The next two days she spent setting up her little nest. Jehan helped her in the afternoon when he came back from work and Musichetta was always certain to drop by with food. (She had already taken Eponine grocery shopping the first day.) Epoinine couldn't believe how incredibly lucky she was to have somehow managed to make two friends so soon.

She had been afraid that she'd battle with loneliness, made only worse by the break-up, when she first arrived but with Jehan's sweetness and Musichetta's motherly care she was fine. She was so busy during the day she didn't have time to think about Enjolras and in the evenings she had long conversations with Grantaire or Cosette or both, even though it was later there. If any thought about Enjolras happened to cross her mind as she lay in bed, she would immediately turn on the radio or start reading. Anything to distract her from thoughts of him.

**A/N: Happy Wednesday! Hope you liked. Let me know what you think. **


	7. Chapter 7

Thursday morning found Eponine waiting for the elevator in a boring office building, nervously twiddling with the buttons on her blouse. With a ding, the doors slid open and a man bolted out, slamming into her and losing hold of the papers. "Sorry, sorry, sorry," he apologized profusely, bending to pick up the scattered papers and banging his head on the briefcase he'd set down.

"Miss Jondrette?" a deep voice took her attention away from the bumbling man at her feet. It took Eponine a moment to respond. She'd legally changed her name to Jondrette in an effort to escape her dark past and she wasn't entirely used to it yet.

"Yes, I'm her," Eponine said, quickly. "Mr. Lemarque?"

"Indeed," the man said, nodding. He was the editor-in-chief of the magazine. He was once an influential politician who, after retiring from the political scene, devoted his time to the small yet flourishing magazine. "I'm glad to see you and all in once piece after bumping into Bossuet here. You'll find he has a proclivity for accidents." The balding man straightened up, having gathered his papers, and grinned at her apologetically. "Come with me, Miss Jondrette. I'll show you around," Mr. Lemarque spoke. They entered the elevator, keeping up a steady stream of small talk. As they walked, Eponine found her employer to be a kind yet stern man, obviously passionate about his work, reminding her of Enjolras. _Don't think about him, _she told herself.

"And this is your desk. Sorry you'll have to share. We're trying to move to a bigger building but that's still a work in progress. And this is your cubicle mate. I'll let you two get acquainted. If you don't mind, I have a phone meeting in a few minutes," Lemarque said, showing her into a small cubicle. A dashing young man with curly dark hair stood and walked around his desk. "Behave yourself," Lemarque addressed the man. "I apologize in advance for anything he says or does," Lemarque said to her before leaving. Eponine frowned in confusion before turning back to her new office mate.

"Hi. I'm Courfeyrac and I'm the shit," he drawled, extending a hand.

Eponine raised an eyebrow, slightly amused, shaking his hand. "Well, we'll see about that. I'm –" she began but he cut her off.

"No, no! Let me guess. Your name's Summer," he said, assuredly.

"Uhhh….no," Eponine said, wondering what this guy's deal was.

"Oh, well you could be since you're so…hot," he wiggled her eyebrows at her in what she assumed was supposed to be a seductive way.

"Haha, right. I'm Eponine Jondrette," she replied, brushing off his flirtatiousness.

"Enchanted," Courfeyrac smiled. "If you need anything just ask and I'll give you _everything_ you need," he said, winking before retreating behind his desk. Eponine moved to her own desk, setting down the stack of files Lemarque had given her. She spent the next few minutes, organizing her little space, all too aware of Courfeyrac watching her intently. She finally looked up at him, a little annoyed but before she could say anything he spoke. "If I said you had a great body, would you hold it against me?"

Eponine narrowed her eyes at him. She never took crap from guys like this back home and she wouldn't stand for it here. She would've slapped him by now if a) she hadn't been at her first day at work and b) there was something about his easy grin and playful smirk that was just too boyish to get her angry. But she was annoyed. "Are you always like this?" she huffed.

"It gets better just wait," he said, grinning.

"Oh, you're making me jump out of my seat with excitement," she deadpanned.

"You won't be the first girl to react that way," he returned. She rolled her eyes and returned to her paperwork and, to her relief, so did he. Her relief was short-lived for a minute later he asked, "So where you from?"

"New York," she replied shortly.

"Oh, wow. That's pretty far."

"Yup."

"Got family or friends here?"

"Nope. Everyone's back in New York."

"That sucks. Leaving all your friends, family…significant others," he said and for some reason the last part sounded like a question.

Eponine looked up at him but all she was could see was a mop of curly hair above the computer screen. "Don't have a significant other," she muttered. His face suddenly shot out from behind the screen.

"Wanna go out with me at lunch today then?"

"Are you serious?"

"Babe, I'm serious as a heart attack," he replied, smoothly.

"Don't call me babe," she said.

"Ok, sugar."

"Stop."

"Stop what?"

"Doing the whole nickname thing."

"Well, I can always do you instead."

Eponine glared at him. "I swear if you make one more sexual innuendo I will personally see to it your life is painful and miserable."

"Really Fey?" a voice above her head said. She craned her head to see a bespectacled young man with floppy brown hair looking over the cubicle wall. "It's been what? Five minutes? And already she's threatening you for sexual harassment? That's gotta be a new record."

"She's from New York. Everyone knows that New Yorkers are more aggressive," Courfeyrac pouted. "She's feisty. Courfy likes." He waggled his eyebrows at her again and Eponine sent him a withering glare.

"Ignore him. He's a bit of an ass," the man said.

"He's a lot of an ass," Eponine corrected. The man chuckled.

"Very true. By the way, I'm Combeferre. I'm one of the copy editors." He disappeared for a second. "And this is a welcome gift for you." He lifted what appeared to be a wastebasket of crumpled paper. "Feel free to throw these at Fey whenever you feel like. I find it's a way of blowing off steam without doing him permanent damage."

Eponine laughed and took the little basket. "Thanks. I'm sure I'll make good use of it."

"What the hell, Ferre? You're supposed to be on my side," Courfeyrac said, looking deeply offended.

"When have I ever been on your side in matters like this?" Combeferre challenged.

"Never. But still we had a bond. I thought we were connected," Courfeyrac said, mournfully. "Go ahead. Leave a brother behind. Side with the devilishly attractive girl."

Combeferre ignored him. "Sorry you have to deal with him. He's really not that bad. And he almost never means any of it."

"Hey! I meant it when I said she's devilishly attractive," Courfeyrac piped up. Eponine looked over her shoulder and smiled at him.

"Why thank you, Courfeyrac," she said, sincerely.

"Your welcome, Eponine," he returned, blithely. Then he looked at Combeferre. "I think she actually doesn't want to hurt me."

"Just so long as you keep the cheesy pick-up lines for the drunken girls at the bar," Eponine said. Courfeyrac grinned.

"You got yourself a deal."

"Nice meeting you, Eponine," Combeferre said. She returned the sentiment and Combeferre disappeared back into his cubicle. Eponine turned back to her temporarily forgotten work, relieved that the tension had dissipated. Courfeyrac stayed surprisingly quiet for the next ten minutes or so and Eponine was able to get a good start on her work. The next few hours passed in relative quiet. Courfeyrac seemed to decide to be a responsible adult and start on his work. He was a columnist like her and wrote what everyone at the office apparently referred to as "the funnies." "They're just jealous that my commentary on politics is actually entertaining. My editorials are a crowd pleaser. Probably the only reason anyone buys this magazine," he told her, loftily. She rolled her eyes. Combeferre kept dropping in or popping his head up to inform them of random facts and news. "You'll have to excuse, Mr. Encyclopedia over there," Courfeyrac said, "He is incapable of keeping his little fun facts to himself." Combeferre just grinned and ducked back down. Bossuet, the guy she'd bumped into earlier came in to drop off paperwork. "Bossuet," Courfeyrac introduced her. "His life is just one long slapstick comedy." Bossuet nodded his bald head in affirmation. At lunch, Courfeyrac and Combeferre took her under their wing, introducing her to the rest of the staff.

After break, she had settled back to her work, the only sound was Courfeyrac studiously typing away. The peace was suddenly broken by Courfeyrac's explosive, "HOLY GOODNESS!" Eponine jumped in her seat.

"Don't do that!" she spluttered.

"Who is the hunk of burning studliness?" he demanded, swiveling his screen around for her to see. He was apparently facebook stalking her and had it open to her profile. Her profile pic was one of her and Enjolras. It was one of her favorites. He was studying (big surprise!) and she'd come up to him wrapped an arm around him, planting a kiss on his cheek and snapping a photo with her phone. He was glaring up at the camera with an intensely smoldering look that was enough to leave anyone breathless.

"That would be my ex," Eponine said, stiffly. She had sort of forgotten that was her pic and that it would be awkward to leave it like that. But now that she realized that she should probably change it, she didn't want to. It would put a finality to the break-up that she suddenly wasn't sure if she wanted. _Stop being a wimp, Eponine. You guys are done, _she told herself, irately.

"Oh, um sorry?" Courfeyrac said, actually looking uncomfortable. "I feel like that wasn't a good thing to bring up so uhh…yeah….shutting up now." He slunk back behind his computer desk and Eponine stared absently into space. She'd spent the past week trying to shut Enjolras out of her mind, out of her life. That single picture had shattered all her defenses into a million pieces which she scrambled to gather and rebuild immediately. She plunged herself back into her work and Courfeyrac, to his credit, was quiet and respectful for which she was eternally grateful. By the end of the day, she was feeling better and when Mr. Lemarqe came to check in on her before she left, she could honestly say she was doing fine.

As she tried to figure out the bus route home her phone rang. She pulled it out, checking the map one last time before looking at her phone. She froze when she saw the caller id. _Enjolras._

**A/N: Sorry, cliffhanger of sorts and I might not be able to post a new chapter until Sunday. Sorry, don't hate me. I love you. Let me know what you think. **


	8. Chapter 8

Enjolras was not sulking like his friends thought. Ok, well maybe he was but he wasn't sulking unproductively. He wasn't just lying on his bed, reminiscing. Ok, well he was doing a lot of that too but it wasn't the _only _thing he was doing. He'd distilled his problem down to its very essence and what it all boiled down to was that he wanted to be with Eponine. He didn't care if he was with her here in New York or there in California or on the moon or under the sea. It didn't matter. He wanted to be with Eponine and nothing was going to stop that from happening. So maybe it took him practically a whole week to figure that out but he couldn't say he was in his right mind.

When he woke Thursday morning (or afternoon; his body had taken on strange sleeping patterns) there was a moment between sleep and wakefulness where he thought the pillow lying next to him was Eponine and that moment was bliss. But then reality crashed down and woke him up fully. He missed her. Damn it, _he missed her._ He threw off his covers and rolled out bed and went to the door to listen. Grantaire had apparently taken up residence in his house and Enjolras hated seeing his friend and his smug face. So he stayed in his room most of the time. But he did have to eat still. When there was no sound of Grantaire being up and about, he cracked the door and padded softly into the kitchen. Grantaire was passed out on the couch, the TV on but muted. Enjolras poured himself a bowl of cereal. It was all he'd been eating. He would've run out too but Cosette had come by with groceries. Bless her. As he was passing the table to go back to his room, he saw his phone lying on the table. He grabbed it before going back into his room.

There were a few texts, a few voicemails, none of them from Eponine so he didn't care. He hadn't really expected her to call or text but a man could hope. _No, you're the one who screwed up. Eponine's not going to come back. Especially if you're not doing anything,_ he reminded himself. But that's where the problem was. He didn't know what he should do. He knew that he had to do _something_ but what that something was….he had no idea. No idea. Maybe he should just call her. Talk to her. See where she stood on all of this. He sighed. He knew where she stood on this. She made it very clear when they broke up. He ignored her. She wasn't going to put up with it anymore. He flung himself back onto the bed and spent the next few hours debating whether he should call her. _Do it_, said his heart.

_And what am I supposed to say?_ asked his head.

_Just tell her you want her back._

_And she's just going to take me back. _

_Well, you'll never know until you try._

_That's stupid._

_You're stupid._

_Why the hell am I talking to myself? _

Enjolras sat up again. He could hear Grantaire moving around. He prayed he didn't start playing the stupid music again. Enjolras couldn't stand it. And that stupid "When I Was Your Man." He _hated_ that song now. Firstly because Grantaire always played it, secondly because it resounded too completely with his own feelings. Except that Enjolras hoped there wasn't another man in Eponine's life already. It would just complicate his problem even more. Enjolras heard Grantaire knocking on the door. "Hello, hermit. I'm going out. If you need anything, tell me now or call me. I saw you took your phone. Take advantage of me being gone and come out." He listened as his footsteps receded then heard the door slam shut. Enjolras let out a sigh of relief. He opened the door and went to the kitchen to put his bowl away. Every time Grantaire left, Enjolras came out of hiding to clean. His friend was such a slob. As Enjolras put his apartment back into order, the phone in the pocket of his sweats bounced insistently against his leg. By the time the last beer bottle had been recycled and the last Chinese take-out box thrown in the garbage, Enjolras' heart had won the battle. He retreated into his room and before his logic could intervene he was calling her.

Eponine stared at the phone in her hand, the picture i.d. with his stupid perfect face daring her to answer. A million scenarios flashed through her head of what he would say. What she would say. How she would react. Would he apologize? Would he admit it was better this way? Would he ask her to come back? What would she say if he said that? What if he had just accidentally dialed her number? Her finger hovered above the answer button. Ok, she was going to answer. _She was going to answer._ She took a deep breath and hit the answer button.

"Hey you've reached Eponine. Sorry I couldn't catch you but if you leave a message after the beep I'll get back to you ASAP." She cringed at how cowardly she was being. She just wanted to know what he had to say but she didn't want to talk to him.

Enjolras almost hung up when he heard the answering machine. His mind raced as he tried to think what to say before the beep. _Beep._ He took a deep breath and tried to collect his thoughts. From the other end, there was a sound like a car driving by. He frowned. That was weird. Then a memory resurfaced. Eponine pretending to be her answering machine so she didn't have to talk to people. He caught at that small glimmer of hope. Maybe she was listening. And maybe if he could tell her just how much he was hurting she would talk to him. This all flashed through his mind.

"Eponine, hi. It's me. I know you're probably really mad at me and I deserve every ounce of the hate you probably feel towards me." He stopped and focused on all the pain he was feeling, willing it to turn to words. "But Eponine, I think you should know – that you deserve to know that I never intentionally hurt you. I didn't purposely ignore you. I don't know why I did but I'm sorry. I'm sorry a thousand times over. I would willingly spend the rest of my life trying to show you how sorry I am. There is probably in this world, not a single person who regrets their actions as much as I do. I always prided myself on being attune to the pain of others but I couldn't even see the pain I was causing to the person who was most important to me. I should've given you the respect and attention you deserved. And I am sorry I didn't. Maybe it's impossible for you to forgive me right now but I hope that one day you can." Enjolras paused to take another deep breath. There was a sound of horn honking that was quickly cut off and Enjolras knew she had hung up.

Eponine let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. So he was sorry. Of course he would be. He wanted to make it up to her. Good for him. He was sorry, guilty, regretful, apologetic. All lovely and fitting sentiments. But although he'd apologized and begged forgiveness he hadn't said the one thing she needed him to say.

"And please don't forget that even though I ignored you, I've always loved you," he whispered, knowing she couldn't hear him.

**A/N: Sorry it kept changing view points. Hopefully it made sense whose was whose. And sorry it was short. I wanted it to be longer but I also wanted it to be posted before this weekend since I'll be super busy and I probably won't be able to write until Monday. Let me know what you think. You guys are the best.**


	9. Chapter 9

Eponine lay in her bed that night, replaying Enjolras' words over and over in her mind. It had shaken her greatly. She was used to all of the emotions inside Enjolras coming through in his words, in the tone of them. It was what made him such a great speaker. You could hear the passion in his voice. But never before had she heard so much pain. She had never heard him sound so broken. Not ever had he sounded so lost. It physically hurt her to hear that much agony in his voice. She was all but ready to catch the first flight back to New York, rush to his apartment and wrap him tight in her arms until the hurt went away. But she knew she couldn't do that.

She'd tried to remember that she was supposed to be angry at him. It was his fault not hers. He had to live with the consequences of his actions. "UGH! Why do I have to feel bad for his stupid mistakes?" she growled at the ceiling. She wanted to call Cosette or Grantaire just to hear a familiar voice telling her it was ok. It was late here though which meant it would be even later there. She kicked the sheets off her and crossed the room, yanking open the window. She climbed onto her fire escape and sat with her feet dangling off the edge. The cold air nipped at her bare skin but she didn't mind the bite. She sat there for more than an hour, gazing up at the stars, making a wish on every single one that her heart wouldn't hurt anymore. When her heavy eyelids could barely stay open, she climbed back inside, wrapped herself in her blankets and slept.

The next morning at work, she did everything she could to distract from her heartache. She worked hard, throwing her self entirely into each little task as though her very existence depended on it. "You seem overly enthusiastic," Courfeyrac commented.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her fingers not pausing as she typed.

"I mean you've been….aggressively industrious," he said.

"I like to get my work done," she said, with a shrug.

"Ever heard of taking a breather?"

"Not everyone likes to laze around all day, Courf," she teased. It passed through her mind how comfortable she'd already become with Courfeyrac. He was just one of those people.

"Workaholic," he accused.

"Am not," she retorted.

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Uh-huh."

"Nuh-uh."

"Now, now, children," Combeferre interrupted, coming into the cubicle. Eponine had quickly figured out Combeferre had a habit of popping into other people's cubicles to make sure they were ok. "What's with all the bickering?"

"He's calling me a workaholic," Eponine whined, childishly.

"Fey, are you calling names?" Combeferre turned to his friend,

"I'm stating a fact," Courfeyrac argued.

"It's not a fact. I'm not a workaholic," Eponine retorted.

"You haven't stopped working since you got in. You've consumed seven cups of coffee and haven't gone to the bathroom neither did you take a lunch break," Courfeyrac responded, immediately.

"Sounds a little workaholicish to me," Combeferre shrugged.

"I'm not a workaholic. Trust me. I know workaholics and I am not one of them," she insisted.

"I'm not convinced," Courfeyrac said.

"Oh, leave her alone, Fey. If she's a workaholic, she's a workaholic," Combeferre said.

"I am not a workaholic," Eponine protested. She didn't know why it irked her so badly that they kept calling her one. Workaholics were people like Enjolras. They spent all their time working and didn't pay attention things outside of their work. She wasn't like that. She just happened to be trying to distract herself from outside things with work. There was a difference. And she felt determined to make them understand it.

"Oh, Jondrette," Courfeyrac laughed. She noticed the entire staff had a habit of calling each other by their last names. "There's nothing wrong with being a workaholic."

"Yeah there is," she said automatically and a little too bitterly. "Workaholics don't care about anything outside their work and that's messed up."

"Ok, ok, sheesh. Touchy," Courfeyrac exclaimed.

"Sorry, I'm just a little stressed and frustrated and I have a tendency to take my frustration out in my work," she sighed.

"We're sorry we bothered you, then," Combeferre apologized.

"Why are you apologizing, Ferre? You didn't even do anything," Courfeyrac said. "It's completely my fault. I started this whole thing."

"Well, I felt an apology was in order and knowing that you wouldn't initiate one on your own I did it for you," Combeferre replied, evenly.

"I can apologize on my own," Courfeyrac frowned. "Watch. Jondrette, I'm sorry I messed with you when you were already having a bad day. Totally uncool of me. I'm sorry. I'll buy you a coffee or something to make up for it." He grinned at Combeferre.

"You guys really don't have to apologize. I'm not offended," Eponine said lightly.

"Oh, well I'll still buy you a coffee," Courfeyrac offered. "It'll be a de-stresser coffee."

Eponine considered this a moment. It'd be a good distraction from Enjolras and she didn't mind Courfeyrac's company. "Sure," she agreed.

"Sweet. Ok, after work then, I'll just take you out to coffee and drive you home," Courfeyrac said, settling the matter.

"Fey, I feel this is an opportune moment to remind you that your car is in the shop and I had to drive you in," Combeferre spoke up.

"Well, you can come along, too, Ferre," Courfeyrac said. "If Jondrette doesn't mind."

"The more the merrier," she replied.

"Great, well then that's settled."

"See! I'm not a workaholic," Eponine grinned.

A few hours later the three were getting ready to leave the office. Courfeyrac and Combeferre were arguing over which coffee shop to go to when Bossuet ran up to them. "Hey, Combeferre," he said, "My car's not starting. Can I get a jumpstart?" Combeferre nodded and went to go bring his car around.

"You really should get a new car, Bossy," Courfeyrac said. "This is the third time this month it's died."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. A new car and a new dishwasher and to top it all off I lost my phone," Bossuet replied, sighing. "It's a hard-knock life."

"You should join us. We're going to all go get a de-stresser coffee," Courfeyrac said.

"A what?"

"De-stresser coffee. To de-stress from the workday. Also, Jondrette is proving that she's not a workaholic by coming and having fun," Courfeyrac replied.

"Ok, I'll come. Where are you going?"

"No idea," Courfeyrac shrugged.

"I know a little bakery around the corner from my apartment. Best bakery, the owner's really hot and super nice and yeah, we can go there," Bossuet offered.

"Hot bakery owners? I'm all for it," Courfeyrac drawled.

They got Bossuet's car going and followed him to the bakery. "Hey!" Eponine exclaimed as they drove. Combeferre, sitting next to her, looked over in alarm. "This is my apartment," she explained. "I think I know the bakery we're going to. The owner's my friend."

"Seriously? That's so weird. What a coincidence," Combeferre chuckled.

"Whoa, whoa! This hot bakery lady's your friend?" Courfeyrac leaned forward from the backseat. "I get to be introduced, right?"

"Oh my gosh, Courf. You're unbelievable," Combeferre admonished. "Just shut up and don't try any of your embarrassing pick-up lines."

"Excuse moi but my pick-up lines are fabulous," Courfeyrac pouted.

"If by fabulous, you mean they never work then I agree," Combeferre replied. The pair was still bickering as they pulled up in front of the bakery. Bossuet was already inside and the trio quickly followed suit.

"Ponine!" Musichetta called, brightly, as they entered.

"You know each other?" Bossuet asked, in surprise. Eponine explained that she lived down the street and Jehan had introduced them the first day she'd arrived.

"Jehan?" Bossuet said, furrowing his brow in thought. "Oh, the skinny guy, reddish hair. He brought me brownies when I moved in."

"Sounds like Jehan," Musichetta laughed. Eponine quickly introduced Combeferre and Courfeyrac and Musichetta soon had them all settled in with cups of coffee and warm pastries. They were the only customers and so Musichetta came to sit with them. Courfeyrac was being his usual flirty self which seemed to amuse Musichetta greatly. It wasn't too long before Jehan breezed in and was introduced to the newcomers. They were all soon laughing and talking like they'd known each other for forever and Eponine had almost completely distracted herself from thoughts of Enjolras.

**A/N: Yeah, so this was just kind of a filler chapter. But I needed them to have that workaholic conversation. *hint*it's important*hint* Soo, yeah. I've already written most of the next chapter so it'll hopefully be up tomorrow at some point. :) And thanks for all the feedback. You are all sorts of wonderful. **


	10. Chapter 10

It was later that day and Eponine was in the middle of a conversation with Cosette. She had been telling her all about the newest additions to her small circle of friends here. "Courfeyrac is super flirty and borderline annoying but he's also sweet so you get this weird mixture of charmingly pesky. Combeferre is the responsible one. He'd probably be the designated driver if we all went drinking. But he's so sweet, always checking to make sure everything's alright. Then Bossuet is the nicest guy ever, a total klutz but he's a good sport about all his accidents."

"Wow, they sound like so much fun, Ponine. I'm so happy for you. Maybe some good friends are just the thing to help you get over Enjolras." Eponine stiffened. She debated telling Cosette what had happened yesterday.

"How's he doing anyways?" she asked, hesitantly.

Cosette sighed loudly. "He's uhh…not himself. He stays at home and Grantaire is there with him most of the time. We've all come by to try and get him to come out but he just ignores us. He…he's taking it badly." Eponine got the idea that her friend was trying to make sure Eponine didn't know how bad it was.

"He, uh, called me yesterday," she said, quickly deciding to tell her.

"What?" Cosette sounded, surprised. "What'd he say? What'd _you _say?"

"I may or may not have pretended to be my answering machine," Eponine confessed.

"_Ponine!_" Cosette groaned. "Why? You should've talked to him!"

"I couldn't, Zette. You don't understand. What would I have said to him anyways?"

"I don't know. But what'd he say?" Cosette asked. Eponine gave her a skeleton sketch of what he'd said. "Well, he apologized. That's good."

"Yeah, so?" it came out brusquely. "He feels guilty."

"What else did you expect from him?" Cosette demanded. "What was he supposed to say?"

"Zette, do you know why I left him?"

"Yes. Because he was a douche and ignored you," her friend replied, promptly.

"Well, yes. Because if he ignored me it meant he didn't really care that much about me, right?"

"Oh," Cosette said, slowly. "I see. He didn't say he loved you, did he?"

"No, he didn't," Eponine said, trying not to sound lonely and desolate.

"You know how he is with those things. He's not good with emotions and stuff," Cosette said.

"Are you defending him?" Eponine accused.

"NO! I'm just saying maybe he would've said more if you _talked_ to him."

Eponine sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "Maybe. But I don't know. I just couldn't."

"Ponine, I think…I'm completely on your side…just…he's really cut up about this. It's tearing him apart. We can all see it. He doesn't know what to do. He's absolutely completely lost. Lost Enjy is not an ok Enjy," Cosette said, carefully. "We're all really worried for him."

"Cosette. I'm sorry. I don't know how I can help. I mean, I just…you know I can't help, right?" Eponine said, bleakly.

"I know. I don't expect you to. You know me though, I have to tell you everything and well, yeah," Cosette said, lamely. She didn't know what she hoped to accomplish telling Eponine about Enjolras' downward spiral. She just felt her friend should know. "I don't know why I mentioned it."

"It's fine, Zette. I'm not mad. I just don't know what to tell you. He'll have to get over it," Eponine said, lightly.

"Ok, well, I better let you go then. You're doing alright, though?" Cosette asked.

"It's a little hard sometimes but no, I'm fine. And with all these new distractions I'll be right as rain."

"Ok, good. Take care of yourself. Talk to you later, Ponine."

"Ok, tell everyone I say hi. Love ya," Eponine said. She hung up and lay back on the bed. Cosette sounded really worried about him. But Cosette worried about everyone. She was like their mother, always looking out for them. And Enjolras was like her baby, always paying special attention to him. The only person who could really tell her how bad it was would be Taire. If he was worried then it was actually serious.

She called him up and made small talk with him for several minutes. They briefly mentioned Enjolras and she tried to sound flippant and unconcerned. "I know you still love him," he said. Eponine frowned.

"It'll take time, Taire," she sighed and quickly moved on to a new subject. She told Grantaire all about work, about her co-workers. "Yeah and Courfeyrac asked me out to coffee today. But then everyone else came, too. It was fun."  
"Wow, getting asked out already, Miss Popular?" Grantaire teased.

"No, it's not as weird as it sounds. If you know Courfeyrac, you'd see he's just one of those guys who you instantly click with," she tried to explain.

"Hey now! No going and replacing me as best friend, ok? I won't hear of it. I'll come and punch the living daylights out of this Coorafac or whatever the hell his name is." She laughed lightly.

"I'd never dream of replacing you, Taire. Sheesh, so much for trust. They're all really great guys but you'll always be my bestie," she said.

"Well, I'm quite touched. Got tears in my eye and everything," he said it sarcastically but he really did feel that way.

"Oh, shut up. I was actually being serious," she said.

"Same here," he sighed. "Things are dull as tombs around here without you. Joly and Feuilly are busy with work. Marius and Cosette are icky and gooey as ever and Bahorel's out of town. And then of course Enjolras is wallowing in the depths of despair." Eponine cringed. The conversation had made its way back to him.

"He called me yesterday," she said, casually.

"Come again?"

"He called me. Yesterday."

"Son of a – And you didn't tell me?! This is vital information, Ep-o-nine." He emphasized each syllable of her name. "This means the little hermit is not in fact hermiting so much as I thought. So what happened? Did you let loose hell's fury upon him?"

"No, I made him leave a message. He said he was sorry and all that good shit," she said, bitterly.

"That's it."

"Yeah."

"I was expecting something a little more dramatic."

"I know, right?" Eponine tried to joke.

"Eponine," Grantaire's voice was suddenly serious. "If he asked you to come back would you?"

"What?"

"You heard me."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Uh, because he treated me like shit and I'm not going to stand for it."

"Ok, good."

"Good?"

"Yeah, good. Don't give into him until he's proven he's got his shit together and can be the man you deserve. Right now, he's being a dumbass. He's staying in his room, refusing to come out. That's not the kind of man you need."

"Um, ok," Eponine said, a little confused by the sudden passion in his voice.

"Well, anyways, Ponine. I gotta go. Talk to you later. Mwah!"

"Ok, bye Taire. Love ya," she said.

On the other side of the country, Grantaire put his phone down and folded his arms, glaring at Enjolras who had once again come out his room. "Yeah, that's right. I told her not to get back together with you. I swear, Enjolras if you break her heart again I will break your face. Why the hell would you call her? Do you have any idea what that would do to her? Don't mess with her like that."

"I wasn't trying to mess with her. I just needed her to know I'm sorry," Enjolras said, defensively.

"So you apologized. What now? Like I said, I'm not going to let you two get back together until you man up."

"Shut up, Taire. Everything's under control."

"No it's not. You haven't done anything at all. Like I said, you want her, you gotta man up. Now what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go buy groceries."

"Groceries? What the – "

"Groceries! And get out of my house. I don't need a babysitter."

Grantaire watched his friend stalk out of the house, slamming the door. Oh, good. He'd pissed Enjy off again. Pissing off Enjy seemed get better results than any of the little pep talks from their other friends. Grantaire hoped he got his shit together and soon. He may have said he wouldn't let them back together but that didn't mean he didn't want them back together.

**A/N: This chapter's short but *shrug.* Again a little filler chapter but Enjy's making progress. Yay! Next chapter's probably going to be another flashback. Sorry to halt the storyline but yeah...thanks everyone who left reviews, followed and favorited. Y'all are the greatest.**


	11. Chapter 11

Over the next few days, her life began to take on a steady rhythm. Work, come home, eat, sleep, repeat. As boring as it sounded, she was really enjoying her new life and new friends. Of course she still desperately missed her friends back home (she still thought of New York as home) but she was not lonely and that was something she was immeasurably glad about.

It was early in the morning and she was enjoying a breakfast at Musichetta's with Jehan. They had finally set up internet in her house and unpacked the final boxes and this was a sort of celebratory "you've officially moved in" deal. Jehan was in the middle of telling them about some movie he'd watched the night before when he suddenly broke off in the middle of his sentence, his face frozen, before he let out a loud sigh. "What?" Eponine asked, still not used to his random bursts of dreaminess.

"It's Wednesday," he said, slowly. He let out another sigh. Eponine looked to Musichetta for help.

"Wednesday's the day he sees his lady love," Chetta explained.

"His girlfriend?" Eponine asked, in surprise. Not that she didn't think Jehan capable of having a girlfriend – she was just pretty sure she'd have heard about her by now.

"She's not my girlfriend," Jehan said, mournfully. "She picks up Andrew, her little brother who goes to my school on Wednesdays."

"This man knows her name, what she does for a living, her favorite color, but he's spoken to her what twice?"

"Three times," Jehan corrected her.

"Yeah, and those conversations lasted less than a minute, I'll bet," Chetta scoffed. "You want that girl, go get that girl."

"It's not that easy," Jehan complained. "It's complicated."

"Doesn't seem complicated to me. Just go and introduce yourself to her. Say a couple things to her when she picks up Andrew. Talk about the weather or something," Musichetta said. Eponine got the feeling they had this conversation often. "It's really quite simple, Jehan."

"No, no it's not. Eponine, have you ever really liked someone but didn't tell them because it wasn't that simple?"

"Yes," Eponine said, immediately. Her mind flew back to that time when she had been so in love with Marius. "I know what you mean. Sometimes you just can't tell them how to feel because it would just screw things up."

"See!" Jehan said, triumphantly grinning at Musichetta. "On a brighter note, I'm sensing a tragic tale behind your comment. Do I get to hear it?" If there was one thing she had learned about Jehan in this past week or so it was that he loved a good story.

"Well, I suppose you can. I used to like one of my friends, back in college. Marius, I've mentioned him. I met him at freshman orientation. He was lost and even though I didn't know the campus at all, I was much better at figuring out where we were than he was. He was super-duper nice and bought me coffee and hung out with me when he saw me and yeah, I just fell in love with him. He was honestly the nicest, sweetest person you could ever meet. He just always saw me as his best friend, though and I knew that's what he saw me as, nothing more. So I stayed quiet and was friends with him and then one day, I helped set him up with a girl."

"This is gonna be good," Jehan whispered, he and Musichetta exchanging grins. They scooted closer to Eponine, leaning in excitedly and Eponine smiled.

* * *

She had noticed the cute blonde girl coming in a couple times. She'd set up her laptop at one of the back tables but never seemed to write much. She'd usually end up lost in a book from she grabbed from the shelf. She always smiled brightly at Eponine when she came in and always said good-by when she left. During her fifth visit, Eponine was re-shelving books near the girl's table when she heard a couple of sniffles and looked over her shoulder to see the girl, wiping away a few tears. Eponine turned her head to read the cover. "_Jane Eyre_?" Eponine muttered aloud.

The girl looked up in surprise and blushed. "Yeah, sorry, I must look like a mess. It's just so heartbreaking. They're going to be separated _forever_," she said, despairingly. "Ugh, I can't believe I'm crying in public."

"It's ok. I get emotional over books all the time. No shame," Eponine smiled, reassuringly and returned to her bookshelves. After that, the girls were a little friendlier. Eponine would comment on the book the girl was reading or the girl would ask for any suggestions.

"I haven't been in the mood for romances so I thought I'd go with something a little more adventurous," she explained one day as she slid her purchase off the counter. "_Robin Hood_ seemed like a good way to go."

"Sweet. Yeah, I read it a while ago. I think I liked it," Eponine said, handing back her change.

"Cool. Well, I hope I do. See you around, then," the girl said, turning to leave.

"Have a nice day," Eponine called. The girl left and Eponine slumped across the counter. Her feet were sore from standing all day and she just wanted this shift over. The tinkling bell announced a new customer and she quickly straightened, only to slouch back down when she saw it was Marius. He looked excited.

"Ponine, oh my gosh, Ponine! Did you see that girl? Who was she? I'm pretty sure she just walked out of the bookstore," he said, rushed.

"What girl?" Eponine asked, straightening back up, even as her heart sank a little.

"I don't know. I think she just came from here. Blonde hair, blue eyes; she was gorgeous," Marius sighed.

"Oh, her," Eponine said, flatly, struggling to keep emotion out of her voice. "She comes around here sometimes."

"Really? Do you know her? How often does she come here? Do you think if I hung around here I'd see her again?"

Eponine shrugged, noncommittally. Maybe if she made it seem like that girl didn't come here often, Marius wouldn't try to see her.

"Well, if you see her again. Try and find out her name or something…if you don't mind. She was so pretty. Can you find out who she is for me?" Marius asked, his green eyes gazing at her so hopefully.

Eponine could practically hear her heart breaking. "Yeah, sure. Anything for you." She said it jokingly but it meant it in earnest.

"You are the best, Ponine," he said, hugging her across the counter. She gasped at the physical contact, relishing it for a moment before she remembered why he'd hugged her. Because she'd just agreed to help him find some girl. Eponine regretted all the times she'd been friendly to that girl. Now she would still have to be nice even though she felt like strangling her. Well, maybe not something that drastic but she really did not like this girl and her perfect hair and perfect smile and perfect little dresses.

Thankfully it was a week before Eponine saw the girl. It was time enough for her to cool down and think rationally about the whole matter. Marius just had a temporary crush. It was just a phase. He'd get over her and besides a girl like her probably already had a boyfriend. It was all going to be fine.

"Morning!" her cheery greeting hit Eponine's ears, accompanied by the tinkling of the shop bell. Eponine turned around from where she was stacking books.

"Hi!" she replied, plastering a big fat fake smile onto her face.

"Oh my goodness, Robin Hood was so good," she said, as she came to stand near her. "I've literally been locked in my room reading it, not answering my phone and just existing on tea and cake."

"Oh, haha, I'm glad you enjoyed it," Eponine replied.

"Oh, I more than enjoyed. It's my new favorite," she declared. "I would date a guy like Robin Hood in a heartbeat."

"Well, I'll let you know if I see any guys in green tights walking around," Eponine joked.

The other girl laughed. "Well, I think I'd prefer it if he lost the tights," she said, and then realizing a moment later all the implications of that sentence, she blushed and tried to backtrack. "I mean, like no green tights like regular pants like, ugh, you know what I mean."

Eponine giggled. "Yes, I think I do. So, no green tights, just mad bow and arrow skills?"

"Definitely," she said, "And an unfailing sense of chivalry, kind-hearted, brave….my future boyfriend has got a lot to live up to."

"Oh, so you don't have a boyfriend?" Eponine said, seeing an opportunity to help Marius. Her heart constricted inside her.

"Nah, never found a guy nice enough," she said with a sigh. "You?"

"Oh, me? No. No boyfriend," she said, quickly.

"All the single ladies put your hands up," the girl said, sarcastically.

"I'm sure you'll find someone," Eponine said, kindly.

"Well, I hope so," she said, shrugging. "By the way, even though we talk a lot I don't think I've ever introduced myself. Cosette Fauchelevaunt."

"Eponine Thenardier," she replied, shaking the proffered hand.

"Thenardier?" the girl gasped. "Eponine?"

"Yesss," Eponine said slowly, unsure.

"I used to live with you. A really long time ago," Cosette said. "Remember me?"

"Cosette?" Eponine breathed in shock. Yes, she did remember. Well, she remembered Cosette but this young woman very little resembled the tiny, pathetic, girl that used to live with them. Eponine remembered a girl who always was miserable, whether from the harsh treatment she was given, the harsh condition she was forced to live in, or the harsh work she was forced to do. Eponine used to tease her, call her names and shout insults. After all, it was what Papa and Mama did. "You look so different," was the first thing that came out of her mouth.

"Well, it's been a long time," Cosette said, softly.

"We were just little kids," Eponine said. "And I was really, really terrible to you."

"It's ok. Like you said, we were just kids."

"I still feel awful," Eponine said, sincerely.

"Don't worry. It wasn't really your fault," Cosette brushed it away with an indifferent shrug. Eponine almost wished the girl would be angry or upset or call her a name or something. It would make disliking her so much easier but this girl was gentle and gracious even though Eponine had been awful. Of course, Marius would be attracted to the little girl Eponine used to taunt and tease. It must've been karma or something. "Besides, you've been so nice to me; I've got a feeling you're not like you used to be." Cosette smiled, brightly. Eponine didn't know how to respond to that except with her own smile. Why did Cosette have to be so nice? It made it practically impossible to dislike her now. Plus knowing all the crap Eponine had put her through, she felt like the only way for making it up to her was to introduce her to Marius. Eponine had absolutely no doubt now, much as it pained her to admit it, that the two would be a perfect match. Birds of a feather flock together and two such sickeningly nice people would be guaranteed to get along. Now she'd _have_ to set up a meeting for them. Firstly because it would make Marius happy and secondly because it would be her way of making up to Cosette. Eponine inwardly cursed herself. How had she gotten into this situation?  
Two days later, Eponine was walking to the bookstore. Marius was with her and they were having a riotous time, laughing and joking as they waltzed along down the street. Eponine's feelings were torn between ecstatic that he was having such a good time with her and knowing that the reason for his good mood was because she'd told him Cosette would probably be at the bookstore today and he could meet her. "Ponine, you are seriously the best in the world! I can't tell you how excited I am. I hope she likes me. Ugh, I haven't been able to stop thinking about her. I've actually seen her around campus a few times since then but I've never been able to talk to her." He practically skipped along. Eponine sighed and tried to store her emotions away.

As they entered the shop, Eponine saw the Cosette was already there, installed at her little table, a book in hand. She looked up as the pair entered. Marius and Cosette's eyes met and Eponine instantly said good-bye to whatever hope she had left. He moved towards her like he was in a dream. Eponine turned away to spare herself the pain of seeing them. She ran back behind the counter and busied herself with work. She could see them out of the corner of her eye, talking easily. She bit her lip to keep from crying. They left together not twenty minutes later. A text arrived from Marius a few minutes later. _Going to coffee. She's amazing. You're the best._ If anyone noticed Eponine's long absence in the bathroom or that she came out with puffy red eyes, nobody said anything.

As soon as her shift ended, she ran to the dorms, hoping to find Grantaire and get some comfort. She banged loudly on the door, trying to stop the tears that still kept spilling down. "Ep? Are you ok?" Grantaire frowned as she came in. "What happened?"

"Marius," she choked out. "He's…he's found a girl and they're so _perfect_ together." Grantaire sighed and pulled Eponine into a hug. He was well aware of Eponine's infatuation with Marius, having spent many long hours listening to her talk about him. He led her to the bed where she curled into a little ball. Grantaire stroked her hair soothingly. He didn't try to say anything comforting like "it's gonna be ok" or "things will get better." He was a natural-born pessimist and being positive was not his thing. Several minutes later, there was the sound of the door opening and Grantaire looked up to see Enjolras come in.

* * *

Enjolras had become used to Eponine's seemingly constant presence and barely spared the pair a glance. "Don't you have a dorm of your own, Eponine?" He moved to dump his things on the desk. "Between here and Marius' I seriously doubt you ever go to your own." He had meant it to be teasing. He hadn't realized she was crying. As he turned around though, he was met with Grantaire's glare and Eponine's tearful face. "Oh, sorry. Shit. Are you ok? What's wrong?" Eponine just buried her face back into Grantaire's pillow.

"What's wrong?" he mouthed at Grantaire.

"Marius," Grantaire mouthed back. Enjolras nodded in understanding. He wasn't blind to how in love Eponine seemed to be with the guy. He saw how her face lit up and she smiled wider when she was around him. "Eponine, do you want to talk about it?" Grantaire asked after a moment. She rolled over and blinked up at him.

"Her name's Cosette," she said, wiping away the tears. "She used to live with us and I treated her terribly and now he's gone and fallen in love with her and she's probably fallen in love with him. And I helped them. I brought him to her. And now they're so freaking happy and I'm just sitting here knowing that I _never_ had a chance with him. I'm so pathetic."

Grantaire rubbed her back but didn't say anything. Enjolras however moved near them. "You're not pathetic. What you did was brave and incredibly generous." Eponine turned to look at him, confused.

"Bullshit. What've you been smoking?" she muttered.

"No, listen. Why did you take Marius to her? Because you knew it would make him happy. You sacrificed your own happiness for his. That's a heroic thing to do," he said, sincerely. She frowned a little and looked like she might start crying again. Enjolras rubbed the back of his neck and looked away, feeling just a tad bit awkward. Maybe that was a bad thing to say to her. But hell if he knew what to say to a heartbroken girl. He just said what he happened to be feeling.

"Enjolras," she said, in a shaky voice, "That is possibly the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"It's the truth," he shrugged. "Anybody can see that."

"Not me," she said.

"Heroes never think they're doing anything heroic," he replied.

Eponine smiled just a little. "You've got a funny way of doing it but you really know how to cheer a girl up."

Enjolras shrugged. "Yeah, and I'm not even trying." Her tiny smile grew a little and Enjolras grinned.

**A/N: Yeaaahh, more back story. I didn't really know how to end this chapter but we get to see a little more Enjonine friendship growth. Yay! **


	12. Chapter 12

Having apparently lost her best friend to his new lady love, Eponine seemed to be trying to find a replacement in Enjolras. His comments after her heartbreaking episode with Marius and Cosette seemed to make her think he could be a trusted confidante. Not that he couldn't be. He just thought it was weird she would go to him of all people. They'd never been close. Hell, she didn't even like him for the first month or so of their acquaintance. It took a while but they eventually warmed up to each other. They were friends now, he guessed. They were around each other a lot, at least. And now she was around even more. It's not that he disliked her company. He didn't. She was witty and clever, always ready with a comeback. She was fun to hang around. Or at least before the Marius thing she was.

This new heartbroken Eponine was not particularly fun though. In public, she was trying too hard to show everyone she was ok. She smiled brightly, laughed loudly, talked incessantly. She was all together too…sparkling. Like she was trying to blind everyone to the fact that she was hurt. When they were alone, she became despondent and fragile, the tiniest things setting her off crying. Enjolras did his best to bear with her. It was a godsend that he didn't have any particularly pressing assignments due or else things might have turned out badly. He dealt with her patiently and passively. When she cried, he passed the tissue box and let her cry. When all she wanted to do was talk about Marius, he put on his best "I'm listening attentively" face and he let her rant. Sometimes, like the first time, he would say something encouraging. It wasn't until a week and a half later that he finally decided to do something proactive about comforting her.

He was walking back from class when he bumped into her coming back from the library. "Hey," he said, trying to get a feel for what sort of mood she was in. "How's it going?"

"I'm ok," she sighed. "It's just – I saw Marius with her coming into the library. That's why I left. They're inseparable. I can't stand seeing them together. And Marius doesn't even notice that I'm not around. He's barely talked or even texted me at all. It used to be that if he didn't see me for a day he'd worry and call me."

Enjolras heaved an internal sigh. He'd heard this particular speech half a dozen times already. "Sorry, Eponine. Try not to dwell on it too much."

"You're right. I just need to get over him. I always knew he didn't like me but," she stopped and let out a shuddering breath and bit her lip – a sign he now recognized as her trying not to cry.

"Why don't you come with me to the rally?" he said, on a whim. Maybe this could distract her from Marius. She looked up at him surprise. Enjolras was always constantly going to rallies and protests. His friends teased him about it, respected him for it, but never went with him. "We're protesting the budget cuts for state funding of schools." She looked a little hesitant. "You don't have to come. It was just a suggestion."

"No, I'll come. I've got nothing to do anyways," she shrugged.

Half an hour later they were standing in a crowd, while a speaker gave a speech on the stage. Enjolras was too focused on the speaker's words, too busy cheering and applauding with approval to notice Eponine beside him. When some guy handing out flyers broke his attention, he saw her clutching a sign (he had no idea where she got it) cheering with the best of them. "You doing ok?" he asked.

She looked over at him and he saw that her eyes, so dulled and flat of late, were shining with fire. "Yeah, I'm great. I can't believe the government is actually getting away with this stuff."

"Yeah, it's becoming totally corrupted," he agreed. She turned away from him as the next speaker mounted the stage and both became lost in the moment.

Later that afternoon, on the subway back to the campus, Enjolras was glad to see that Eponine had somewhat reverted back to her old self. She was still going on about everything she'd heard that day, ranting about the government (not Marius, thank God!) and waving around the various flyers she had accrued. "You should come to debate club. I think you'd enjoy it," he said, once she'd paused to take a breath. "We talk about politics and the like, which it would seem you have an interest in."

"It's not an interest in politics. It's just on basic human decency. If the government thinks they can walk over us as they please then they're wrong. Crowded classrooms are just the tip of the iceberg. What are they doing with all that money they're cutting? Why are we so in debt?" she was off again and Enjolras smiled to himself. He'd much rather listen to this than how much Marius was an idiot.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Where've you two been?" Grantaire looked up from his bed as the pair came into the dorm. They'd caught him in a rare moment of studying.

"What's this?" Eponine gasped, exaggeratedly. "Is Taire-bear actually studying? Is the apocalypse upon us?"

"Ha, ha very funny. I do actually study on the rare occasion. There's a reason the school hasn't kicked me out yet," he said, shutting the book and pushing it off the bed. "But back to my original question. Where've you two been? Or where are you going?" he asked noticing Enjolras gathering his books and neither looking like they were staying long.

"We're going to debate club. Eponine said she wanted to come along," Enjolras informed him.

"Really? Since when have you turned into a social justice warrior?" Grantaire asked, rolling off the bed.

"I don't know. I went to a rally with Enj earlier this week and I just got sucked into it all," she shrugged.

"Since when has he become Enj?" Grantaire asked, lifting his eyebrows in surprise.

"What?" Eponine frowned.

"You called him Enj," Grantaire pointed out.

"Oh, I didn't even realize," she laughed, lightly but blushed a little. "You've never corrected me." She addressed the last bit to Enjolras.

"I didn't really care," he said.

"How come you get mad when _I _call you nicknames?" Grantaire pouted.

"There's a difference between Enj and Enjolrass," Enjolras pointed out.

"So can I call you Enj?" Grantaire asked. Enjolras sighed and shrugged. It didn't really matter what they called him so long as it wasn't his first name or something degrading. "So, Enj," Grantaire continued, "How come I never get invited to debate club?"

"Because you don't care," Enjolras said immediately. "Eponine has shown a strong interest in our topics as well as an aptitude for debating."

"I can argue just as well as anyone," Grantaire said. "And just because I don't show interest doesn't mean I don't take interest. I wanna come to debate club."

"Yes, come with us," Eponine spoke up. "I can have a buddy to hang out with if it gets boring."

"You're not coming to debate club just to hang out," Enjolras frowned at the pair.

"Don't worry we'll behave," Eponine said, innocently. "Let him come with us." She looked so earnest and eager, Enjolras gave in. After all, if Taire didn't come, she might not and then she wouldn't have a distraction from Marius. Weeping Eponine was the last thing he wanted to deal with again. So Grantaire came with them to debate club. Between Grantaire's cynicism and Eponine's heated disagreement, the debate club was turned upside down and they were not appreciative.

It was only a few days later and the three were headed out to the next meeting of debate club. "Just try not to be so critical. Let everyone else have their say before butting in," Enjolras was telling the two. "It's good manners and if you keep upsetting everyone like you did last time they'll kick you out." Eponine and Grantaire grinned at each other while telling him that why yes of course they'd be nice. They saw Bahorel coming toward them.

"Where are you all off too?" he asked, falling in step.

"Debate club," Eponine told him. Bahorel raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"And when did you two joined debate club?" he asked.

"A couple days ago. You should come with us. It's lots of fun but we have to be nice or we upset the little dears," Eponine said, mockingly.

"What do you talk about?" Bahorel asked.

"Politics, random controversial topics," she shrugged. "Social justice."

"Sounds boring," Bahorel commented.

"It is but we make it interesting," Grantaire said. "Just come along. We might start accidentally start a fight. We almost did last meeting." Bahorel immediately agreed. When Enjolras arrived at debate club with a third suspicious looking person, the debate captain gave him a disapproving glare which he ignored. So maybe his friends were a little rowdy and didn't know proper etiquette. They still made good points and that's what really mattered after all. After Bahorel got in a heated argument and overturned a table in the process,though, Enjolras was told not to bring his friends back.

"Why? They have an opinion just like the rest of us," he argued. He tried to plead his friends' cases but was told no. Enjolras stormed out of the room where the three were waiting for him.

"Did we get you in trouble?" Eponine asked, looking sincerely concerned.

"Yeah, a little. But it doesn't matter. I'm not going back," he said.

"Don't stop debate just because of us. We won't come back. We promise," she said.

"It's fine. I don't need them. If they can't practice the equality they're all going on about then I want no part of them. We can start our own damn debate club," he growled.

"Well, I think we'd need more people than the four of us but if you want to it'd be kinda fun," Bahorel admitted. "I bet Feuilly and Joly would come."

"What?" Enjolras asked. He hadn't been really serious about starting a debate club but now that he thought about it, it wasn't such a bad idea.

"Yeah, Joly and Feuilly. Maybe we could find a couple other people. It doesn't have to be anything all formal and stiff like that stuff. We can just get together and argue with ourselves," Eponine said, excitedly.

"Well, I guess," Enjolras shrugged. It didn't have to be anything serious like she said. They could just meet up and talk. The more he thought about it the more appealing it sounded. Maybe if his friends were as interested as they seemed (well, except Grantaire) he could get them to come to rallies with them. They could be their own little political activist group. It was actually a good idea. "Yeah, we can always give it a try."

A week later, the friends with Feuilly and Joly, were gathered in the Corinth, a cozy pub down the street from the campus. They'd started out seriously, actually debating and discussing important things but that had given way to playful bantering and casual conversation. Enjolras didn't mind although he still would have preferred to discuss politics. His friends were more concerned about these topics then he'd given them credit for. They weren't as well-informed or as invested as he was but they had opinions and strong ones. Enjolras watched Eponine laughing at some joke Bahorel had just made. He was relieved beyond measure that she seemed to be getting over Marius. She'd thrown herself so willingly into his world of political activism it was like she'd completely forgotten about her heartbreak. Just as these thoughts were drifting through his mind, he saw her stiffen and the laughter was erased from her face, her eyes fixed on something behind him. He turned to look and saw Marius with Cosette entering the pub.

He could see her itching to leave, not wanting to see the pair but, sandwiched between Joly and the wall in the booth seat, she had nowhere to go. It was only a few moments before he heard Marius' cheerful voice hail them across the pub and he turned again to see them heading towards their table. "Hey guys!"

"Hey stranger!" Joly said, scooting over to make room for the two. Enjolras caught the look of discomfort that flickered through Eponine's eyes but he didn't know if it was because of Marius' presence or the fact the she was now completely squished against the wall. Marius introduced everyone to Cosette, formally. They'd all heard plenty about her at this point.

"Hey Eponine!" Cosette said, grinning at the other girl. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Yeah, nice to see you," Eponine said, faking a smile.

"I dropped by the bookstore yesterday but you weren't in," Cosette continued.

"Oh, yeah. I wasn't working that shift. I was out with Enjolras," she said.

"So that's where you've been lately," Marius exclaimed. "Enjolras, are you trying to steal my best friend?" he joked. Enjolras only smiled, painfully. He noticed Eponine frown at the phrase "best friend." Poor kid, in love with a guy who only saw her as his best friend. "Joly was telling me you were at some political rally. Enjolras seems to be rubbing off on you. Be careful or you might end up stressing over papers three weeks before they're due." He was teasing and everyone except Enjolras and Eponine laughed. "If you're not too busy tomorrow you should drop by the dorm. We haven't talked in ages."

"Yeah, I might," she said, swirling her drink in her cup, not looking up. "I would've sooner but you always seemed to be out with Cosette." Enjolras heard the faint twinge of bitterness but Marius grinned at the mention of Cosette and the two glanced at each other, sharing a loving look.

"Yeah, I guess it was a little my fault, too. Sorry. Come with us to the movies?" he offered.

"No, it's fine. Don't mind me," she said, still not looking at him.

Marius frowned just a little and Enjolras thought it might be the first time Marius realized something was not right. "Are you sure, Ponine?" She finally looked up at him.

"I'm sure. You two go on. I don't want to be the awkward third wheel," she said, flashing another fake smile. Marius let the subject drop with a shrug. The conversation took a different turn but Eponine took no part in it. Enjolras watched her carefully but her face was devoid of emotion. She seemed to have shut down inside. He was sure he'd hear all about later though. And he was right.

She walked back to his dorm, helping to support a drunken Grantaire. "I can't do this anymore," she exclaimed. "I want to be friends with him. I do. I don't want to let our friendship die just because I can't get over him. It's just so hard. I still all have these feelings for him and nowhere to put them."

"Just find somewhere to put them," he said, hauling Grantaire away from the edge of the sidewalk where he had almost stepped into the busy street. "You just need to find a creative outlet for your bottled up emotions. If there's one thing I know it's that bottling up emotions doesn't help in any way. I'm always angry at the injustices in our world. That's why I go to those rallies. When you guys are always making fun of me because how focused I get on my school, it's because I'm taking all my stress and frustration and putting it into school."

"Really?" she said, surprised at this revelation.

"Yes. That's why I took you to that rally in the first place. I thought it might distract you from all your feelings. And then when you seemed to enjoy it I took you to debate for the same reason. Just take what you're feeling and focus it into something else," he said. "That's why I always told you not to dwell on it."

"Oh," she said and didn't say anything for a long time. As they came to the dorm door, she turned to him. "When I was at the debate club and at that rally and then tonight when were all having our own discussions, I don't think I even thought about Marius at all."

"Well, that was my intention," he said.

"Right. The whole channeling emotions thing," she agreed. "That's a good idea."

"I know," he said. "That's why I told you it."

"You're a good friend, Enj," she said. Before Enjolras could say anything, she hugged him tightly for just a moment before pulling away.

"What was that for?" he asked, surprised.

"Just channeling my gratitude into something," she said, grinning. "It was a thank-you hug."

"Oh," he said. "You're welcome."

She laughed and turned away. "Night, Enj."

"Night, Ep," he said. The nickname slipped off his tongue without him noticing it.

**A/N: Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! I did not mean to disappear like that but things got SUPER busy all of a sudden and I didn't have any time. I'll try to update soon but I can't guarantee anything because graduation's this Saturday and it's absolutely chaotic here. I'm going on vacation next week and probably won't have any internet access so it might be a while before another update. But I promise after everything calms down I'll be back to updating frequently. :) Thanks for bearing with me. And yeah, hope you enjoyed the chapter. I made it a bit longer than the past couple chapters as compensation. **


	13. Chapter 13

It had been three weeks since she'd moved to California. She'd taken to her new life so comfortably it still surprised her. There was only half an hour left in the work day and then it would be the blessed weekend. Courfeyrac was trying to convince her to come clubbing but she had planned a movie night with Jehan and Chetta. "No Courf. I've got other plans," she said.

"What plans could be more important than hanging out with me?" he asked, loftily.

"Jehan and Chetta are coming over for movie night," she told him.

"Movie night? And you didn't invite me?!" he feigned hurt but she only rolled her eyes.

"No. It's just a quiet little thing," she said.

"Are you implying I can't be quiet? I can be quiet. I can be a freaking ninja if I need to," he informed her. "Can I come?"

"No. You won't like what we're watching," she said.

"How do you know? What if I love it?" he asked.

"It's a chick flick. Guys don't like chick flicks so you don't get to come," she said.

"Jehan gets to come though? You're logic's faulty, Jondrette. Let me come. I promise I'll be good," he knelt on the floor in front of his desk, clasping his hands dramatically.

"No," she said.

"Dear, sweet, beautiful, sexy, gorgeous, Eponine, please?"

"No!" He pouted and got up from the ground.

"Pretty please with sugar on top!"

"NO!"

The pair was still arguing about it by the end of the work-day as they headed to the parking lot. Eponine kept an eye out for Bossuet. She had been catching rides to and from work with him, since they lived in the same apartments. She saw him bending over his car, the hood up, ominous looking smoke issuing from it. "Bossy, I told you your piece of junk was going to just kick the bucket one day if you never fixed it," Courfeyrac said, as they came up.

"Yeah, shut up, Courf. No one asked for your opinion," Bossuet said, for once not in a good mood. "Jondrette, I don't think I can get it going. I called the tow truck so it'd be better if you found a ride with someone else."

"I volunteer as tribute!" Courfeyrac spoke up. Eponine rolled her eyes but knew she would have to accept.

"Since I am being super, super nice and driving you home, do I get to stay for movie night?" he asked, as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"Fine, Fey. If it means so much to you, you can stay," she sighed. Courfeyrac didn't say anything but drove in quiet with a ridiculously huge grin on his face.

Around an hour later, Eponine was in her bedroom on her laptop video chatting with Gavroche. Of everyone back home, she definitely missed and worried about her little brother the most. She knew his new foster family was a good one and he'd been doing well in school so she tried not to worry too much but old habits die hard. Gavroche was currently at Marius and Cosette's apartment. There was some sort of get-together there and they'd invited him. "I came in here to escape Cosette," Gavroche was saying. He was sitting on the floor of the closet. "She kept going on about the wedding and I was ready to puke."

Eponine laughed. "Oh, come on, Gav. It's her wedding she's excited and none of the guys want to listen to her when she talks about it."

"What makes her think _I_ want to listen?"

"You're still little enough for her to boss around, that's why," she said.

"I'm sixteen!" Gavroche protested.

"Still a baby," Eponine teased. Gavroche pouted in a very babyish way indeed.

"Eponine!" Jehan popped his head through the door. "Can you help me with something?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there," she said, putting the laptop down. "I'll be right back, Gav." The boy nodded and Eponine rolled off her bed to go help Jehan. A few minutes later, Courfeyrac burst into the room, slamming the door behind him. He wasn't wearing a shirt and his hair was dripping wet.

"Who the hell are you?" Gavroche asked, in surprise. Courfeyrac jumped spinning around, trying to locate the owner of the voice. He finally noticed the laptop and Gavroche frowning at him.

"Uh, hi. Who are you?"

"I'm not telling you who I am until you tell me who you are and why you are in my sister's room?" Gavroche demanded.

"Eponine's your sister?!" Courfeyrac grinned. Gavroche frowned even deeper.

"Who are you?"

"Name's Courfeyrac and you?"

"Doesn't matter. Why are you in Eponine's room?"

"Pushy aren't you? I'm hiding from your sister. She's trying to murder me," Courfeyrac explained, jumping when there was a loud banging on the door.

"Why? What'd you do?" Gavroche asked, intrigued.

"Apparently, I used all the hot water which is not my fault because there is barely any hot water here," he said. "Your sister was not very happy about it. She was hitting me with my own shirt. And now she's mad at me and let me tell you, kid, mad Eponine is a very scary Eponine."

"Don't I know it," Gavroche grinned. "Did she do her little squinting glare thing like she was trying to melt your flesh with her eyes?"

Courfeyrac laughed. "Yes! That is exactly how it was."

The banging on the door stopped and Eponine yelled through the door. "Courfeyrac! Come out here. NOW!"

"No, you're going to kill me!" he yelled back. "Help me out, kid. I need some leverage on her."

"What? Don't drag me into this," Gavroche said, laughing. He was enjoying this immensely.

"Courfeyrac! I swear if you don't come out right now, I will break down the door," Eponine yelled.

"Give me my shirt back first!" he yelled.

"No!" was the resounding answer.

"Come on, kid. Give me something to work with here. I need some dirt on her. Embarrassing story or ridiculous nickname? Something she won't want anyone else knowing," Courfeyrac pleaded.

Gavroche laughed again. "What are you going to give me in return?"

"Uh? Chocolate? I'll send you chocolate," he said, quickly.

"We have ourselves a deal," Gavroche grinned. "Ok, her nickname when she was a kid was Ninny. She hates people calling her that."

Courfeyrac grinned. "Perfect!" He turned towards the door. "Eponine! I will come out if you promise not to abuse my perfect bod anymore. If you hit me or try to kill me in any way, I will tell everyone what your childhood nickname was. And I will get _everyone_ to call you it."

There was silence from the other side. "GAVROCHE!" she screeched. The pair exchanged grins. "GAVROCHE! You little traitor! I am your own flesh and blood and you don't even know Courfeyrac. How dare you?" she carried on ranting for a few more moments. Courfeyrac sat back smugly.

"One huge box of chocolate coming up for you, kid," he said.

"Gav, what are you doing in here? It's too dusty in here for you to be sitting on the floor. You could get sick. Who are you talking to?" Courfeyrac turned back to the screen and saw a young man looking over Gav's shoulder. "Who's that?"

"I'm talking to Ep's friend," Gavroche explained. "This is Joly. He's almost a doctor. This is Courfeyrac. He's in trouble with Ep."

"Hi," Courfeyrac grinned, "Nice to meet you I guess."

"Is your hair wet?" Joly leaned down and squinted at the screen.

"Um…yes," Courfeyrac frowned. "Yes it is."

"And you're not wearing a shirt. You should be careful or you could get pneumonia."

"Thanks for the advice. But Eponine took my shirt and won't give it back," Courfeyrac explained.

"Ignore Joly. He thinks everyone's dying of diseases."

"What's going on?" A new voice was heard.

"Joly's just trying to convince Eponine's friend he'll catch pneumonia because his hair's wet and he's not wearing a shirt," said Gavroche.

"Not wearing a shirt? Why isn't he wearing a shirt?"

"He took a shower," Gavroche said.

"At Ep's house?"

"I'm assuming."

"It's not as creepy as it sounds," Courfeyrac called out, not wanting to give the wrong impression to her friends.

"Courfeyrac? Who are you talking to?" Eponine called through the door.

"Joly, Gavroche and some other person," Courfeyrac called back.

"I have a name," said the other person.

"Well, I don't know it so I can't tell her," Courfeyrac shot back.

"Tell her Feuilly says hi," the person said.

"Feuilly says hi," Courfeyrac called.

"Feuilly!" Eponine squealed. "Tell him I say hi too. Actually you know what's even better? Open the door and let me talk to him myself."

"Promise not to kill me? Or hit me or anything like that?" Courfeyrac stipulated.

There was silence, then a loud sigh then. "FINE!" Courfeyrac hopped off the bed and opened the door. Eponine came in, glaring at him.

"Hey Ponine!" Joly and Feuilly chorused. She turned her attention to them.

"Hi, boys! I see you've met Courf," she said.

"We have," Joly said. "Trying to kill your friends already, Ponine?"

"Courfeyrac just begs to be killed," she said. "He's the most annoying person I've ever met."

"If by annoying you mean sexy, then yes. I agree," Courf drawled.

"Oh, you're just full of it," she sighed, trying to hide a smile.

"You love it," Courfeyrac grinned. "Don't deny it."

Eponine rolled her eyes and looked back towards the boys. "We've got to get going. We're supposed to be having dinner and watching a movie. But we need to all do this video chat thingy again when I've got more time and no annoying little twerps around." Her friend waved her good-bye, promising to check in on her soon. Eponine and Courfeyrac went to rejoin Jehan and Musichetta.

* * *

"What were you guys doing?" Bahorel asked as the three trouped back into the room.

"Talking to Eponine and her friend," Gav told them. He then elaborated, telling them about Courfeyrac's antics.

"Why'd you stop talking to them? You should've brought them in here," Cosette said.

"They had to go. They were supposed to go eat and watch a movie," Joly explained.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Friend takes shower at Ep's house, waltzes around shirtless and they're going out to a movie and dinner? Am I the only who's connecting the dots here?" Grantaire spoke up, loudly. There was a moment of quiet.

"Well, they did seem pretty comfortable," Feuilly shrugged.

"He's sending me chocolate so if there's anything between them, I approve," Gavroche declared.

"Guys!" Cosette hissed, glaring at them all and jerking her head towards the kitchen. They quickly stopped their ruminating, remembering that Enjolras was there.

As if on cue he appeared in the doorway. "I'm not deaf," he said, sullenly. An awkward silence descended. All of them tried to avoid his gaze, staring at each other or the floor. After a moment, he asked very quietly, "Did they seem like….y'know?"

"No, no! Of course not!" Joly immediately assured him.

"It was like a brother/sister comfortable," Feuilly hastily, explained.

Enjolras turned towards Gavroche, awaiting his opinion but the boy only met his gaze with a cool stare. "I don't know if they're together but at least he was paying attention to her." Everyone winced. He still hadn't forgiven Enjolras the hurt done to his sister. Enjolras took the harsh words in stride though, nodding and disappearing back into the kitchen.

"Well, that wasn't at all awkward," Grantaire muttered in an undertone.

"You started it," Cosette argued.

"I started it on purpose, excuse moi," Grantaire returned, smugly. "Did you see how jealous he was? If that doesn't have some effect on him then I don't know how the hell we're _ever_ gonna get them back together."

Gavroche folded his arms. "He better do something big to show he's sorry or I'm not letting him near my sister."

"Amen to that," Grantaire drawled, raising his beer to the kid.

**A/N: Hey guys! So I managed to get this one up before my crazy weekend began. Hope you enjoy. Things are going to start getting interesting. **


	14. Chapter 14

He wasn't jealous. Of course he wasn't. That was stupid and juvenile. What was he? A child. No. Of course he wasn't. He was a mature adult. So of course he wasn't jealous. So what if some guy was shirtless in Eponine's house? That didn't mean anything. Not really. Maybe in some cases but not in Eponine's. Eponine - who didn't trust anyone - was certainly not dating some guy after only three weeks. Hell, it practically took them three years to get together. And the guy couldn't possibly be just a fling. Eponine didn't do flings. So obviously there was nothing to be jealous of. Except for the fact that Eponine was happily hanging out with some shirtless guy. But that didn't bother him. He wasn't jealous of that. Eponine had hung out with shirtless guys before and that didn't mean anything. He wasn't jealous. Nope. Not him. Not Enjolras. Nope...yeah ok, screw it. He was raging jealous. He wanted to fly over to California and punch the bastard. He wanted to strangle him and tell him to keep the hell away from Eponine. "Real mature," he muttered to himself out loud. He rolled over in bed and glanced at the clock. It read 3:12. Shit. He needed to sleep. He sighed and rolled back over. He tried to distract himself from how jealous he was.  
He reflected on Gavroche's words to him. He never could seem to escape the guilt. Every time it started to ease, something happened to bring all back crashing on him. He would do anything to make the plaguing guilt, the eternal heartache go away. He needed her forgiveness. He needed Gav's forgiveness. Zette's forgiveness. Taire's forgiveness. Everyone's forgiveness. His own forgiveness. He needed to make it all better. He had to. It was the only way. He sat up. He had to make everything better. There was only one thing to do then. He pushed the covers off. He _was going to make it better.  
_

* * *

"Does anyone know what's going on?" Bahorel whispered. "What's the deal? Are we planning something? Is he planning something? Is there a plan? Why are we here?"  
"Nobody knows," Feuilly responded, taking a sip from his beer. "We're just here because our chief has called us." It had been two weeks since he'd firmly resolved to fix everything. Two weeks of planning and preparation. He had become a recluse once more much to his friends' dismay. He evaded their questions, telling them he was fine. He had been fine, too. He felt better than he had since the break-up. Working towards his goals always gave him a certain peace. Bottling up his emotions had never done anything except stress him out even more. Hadn't he told that to Eponine once long ago? The only way to get rid of your emotions is to put them somewhere. He'd gathered his friends that Friday evening, not giving any reasons just ordering them to come. They were all gathered in his living room now.  
"Don't know what this is all about but I bet you anything it has something to do with me going to his work and being told he didn't work for them anymore," Cosette said.  
"Why were you at his work?" inquired Marius, sharply.  
"He left his jacket at our house and I was dropping it off," she explained, soothingly.  
"He doesn't work there anymore? Has he gone mad? I mean that literally," Joly asked, "He has been highly unstable. Acting completely uncharacteristcally. It could be a sign of some sort of neurotic break-down."  
"You got the neurotic, right," Grantaire scoffed. "I dropped by the other day to check in on him and he barricaded the door so I couldn't get in."  
"Why is he being so secretive?" Bahorel began with the questions. "What's he hiding? You don't think it's anything criminal, do you? I mean, with his history, he does tend to overreact and maybe he really went overboard and did something illegal and - "  
"Whatever he called us here for, he'll tell us," Feuilly interrupted before Bahorel got too carried away.  
"Where did he disappear to anyways?" Marius asked.  
"His room. Where else?" Grantaire replied. The doorbell rang and Joly pushed himself up from the couch to answer it. It was Gavroche.  
"Hey, what's going on?" the boy asked. "I got a text from Enjolras saying he needed to talk to me in person. He didn't say what about."  
"We're all in the same boat, kid," Bahorel said. "He's been in his room the entire time we've been here, too."  
"Well, he better not waste my time. I've got curfew and if I'm not home Michelle's going to kill me," he muttered, referring to his foster mom.  
"I'll go see what he's up to," Marius volunteered. But there was no need for Enjolras emerged from his room at that moment.  
"Sorry guys. I was just finishing some stuff. Didn't mean to keep you all waiting," he said.  
"Yeah, way to be a good host," Bahorel muttered.  
"Yeah, yeah, sorry," Enjolras said, running a hand through his mess of curls."Ok, as I'm sure you all know, I called you here for a reason."  
"Oh, please. Here comes the speech," Grantaire groaned, "Is that what you were doing in there? Perfecting your speech?"  
"What? No!" he spluttered in a way that told them all he had been. "Shut up and listen."  
"Listening intently. Still not hearing anything," Granatire said. Enjolras fixed him with a glare.  
"Ok, so here's the deal. I have majorly messed everything up," he began.  
"Understatement of the century," Grantaire stage-whispered. Enjolras ignored him and continued.  
"I don't like things being messed up. Especially if I'm the one who's done it."  
"Just cut to the chase," Grantaire interjected.  
"I'm getting there. Just shut up. Ok where was I? Oh yeah, so I messed it all up and so now I feel obligated to fix it. And not only an obligation to fix everything but a desire, a compulsion. I _have _to fix it. I feel like if I don't, I can never be happy again."  
"Get on with it," Grantaire sighed.  
"Shut up, Taire! I know what I'm about to tell you may seem rash and stupid but I have given it serious thought and I consider it highly logical and really the only way to fix things. This is the only way I see," he paused.  
"Good grief! You're such a drama queen," Grantaire murmured. "Just tell us al-freaking-ready."  
Enjolras glared at him again before taking a deep breath. "I'm moving to California." He had expected shock. He had expected the questioning of his sanity. He had expected some sort of protest. What he got instead was a barrage of exasperated ejaculations.  
"_FINALLY!_" Cosette exclaimed.  
"Well, that didn't take you forever to figure out," Bahorel muttered.  
"Yeah, even I knew you had to do that and you guys call me clueless," Marius pointed out, smugly.  
"I think the break-up created some emotional unbalance that impaired your thinking process," Joly said.  
"I was wondering if you'd ever figure it out," Feuilly said.  
"Wait!? You guys were expecting me to go to California?" Enjolras exclaimed, in surprise.  
"DUH!" Cosette yelled. "How else are you supposed to get her back? Look, Enj, darling, You screwed up. You hurt Eponine. You were a royal asshole. But you love her. We all know that. And she loves you. That's why it hurt her so badly. So when two people love each other, you obviously expect them to get together. Only way for you two to be together is for you to go to California. Case closed."  
"So you guys think I'm making the right decision?"  
"YES!" they yelled.  
"Gavroche? You haven't said anything," he singled out the boy.  
"Look. I hate you for what you did to her but I'd hate you even more if you didn't do anything to fix it," he said, solemnly.  
Enjolras smiled at his friends, feeling a great weight lifted off him. He was glad they all were on his side. Not that their disapproval would have stopped him, but it was nice to know he wasn't alone.  
"Hey, hey!" Grantaire called for his attention. "This is only step one in proving your worthy of Eponine." The others all nodded in agreement. "You still gotta do everything in your power to make her happy and keep her happy, got it?"  
"I had no other thought in mind," he replied.  
"I told you I wouldn't let you near her until you manned up and I'm still holding to that," Grantaire said. "You've been such a little shithead you know that she's gonna be pissed as hell at you." Enjolras nodded. "You're going to have to do some serious groveling to get back in her good graces."  
"I know," Enjolras said. "I didn't expect anything else."  
"Man, well if you can win Ep back then I guess I'll have to allow it. But you hurt her even in the tiniest way then I will kill you," Gavroche said, so seriously Enjolras couldn't help feel the kid would actually make good on his threat.  
"I swear I will do whatever I can to make her happy," he promised. "I'm gonna fix this."

**A/N: Bum bum BUM! And the plot thickens. Thanks everyone for the follows/favorites and reviews. You are all divine! **


	15. Chapter 15

It was a lazy Sunday morning. Eponine had actually woken up before noon which was basically a miracle for her. She and Jehan were lazing around in his apartment listening to oldies and decorating cupcakes for Jehan's school's fundraiser. "When I was little I wanted to be cake decorator," Jehan said. "I'm addicted to sweets as it is so the idea of working with cake all day appealed to me. And then I would just get to make little frosting designs and it sounded like so much fun."

"Why didn't you?" Eponine asked. "You seem to be pretty good at it." She cast a glance over the already decorated cupcakes. It was easy to tell who had done which. Jehan's were lovely flowers, smiley-face suns and fanciful swirls. Eponine's were messy blobs that resembled nothing in particular.

"Oh, I went to school and discovered how much I loved learning. I was such a bookworm. Still am. I wanted to know everything about everything. And then I decided I wanted to give my love of learning to other people. The fact that those people ended up being adorable little children is just a bonus," he shrugged. Eponine smiled. "What about you? What did you want to be when you grew up?"

"I didn't want to be anything. I just wanted to travel. To see new places and meet new people. I wanted to get out of the ghettos of New York," she said. "That's one of the reasons I got a degree in journalism. I thought I'd be a freelance writer and go travel and see the world and write about it."

"To echo you, why didn't you?"

Eponine focused on her frosting, keeping quiet for a moment as she decided how to answer. "I don't know really. I could've. I just…I think the desire to travel came from not liking where I was and during college and the couple years up until now I liked where I was."

"Why didn't you like it before? What changed?" Jehan questioned. Had it been anyone else Eponine would've considered them nosy but she knew with Jehan he just honestly wanted to know.

"I found friends. I found people who loved me as much as I loved them," she said, a slow smile spreading across her face. "When I was a kid, there wasn't much to love and the few things I did love – they didn't love me back. Not really."

Jehan tactfully didn't ask more about her loveless childhood. Instead he wanted to talk more about her friends. "I know you've talked about your friends a lot and you've told us about your lost love but did you ever find true love?"

"Well, I don't think it was true love," Eponine began.

"Eponine, don't be silly. All love is true love. You can't love someone untruthfully or else you wouldn't love them at all," Jehan interrupted.

Eponine bit her lip, thinking over his words. "Well then, I did find love. I found someone to love and I think he loved me back."

Jehan grinned and leaned in close like he always did when he wanted to know the story. "Do I get to hear it?"

Eponine smiled sadly at him. "Not today, Jehan. It's a fresh wound and hurts still to talk about it," she said.

"Poetically put," he said, reaching across and squeezing her hand. "On a brighter note, Andrew's sister is helping with the bake sale so I'm a _little _excited!" He was practically grinning ear to ear.

"Alriiiight! Mr. Prouvaire putting the moves on the ladies," she laughed.

"I'm gonna be so nervous. What if I drop a plate of cupcakes on her or something embarrassing?" he moaned.

"You'll be fine. Just be you. Nobody can hate you. It'd be like hating a fluffy kitten," she said.

"Wow, thanks. I feel incredibly manly right now," he joked.

Eponine laughed. "You're the one who bakes brownies and names your flowers."

"What can I say? I'm a sensitive soul," he replied. She laughed again. "Hey, what do you think I should wear?"

_"NOT YOUR HAWAIIAN SHIRT_!" she said emphatically.

Jehan frowned. "You don't like my Hawaiian shirt?"

Eponine sighed. "Of _course_ not. It's bright orange with red flowers and yellow cars on it. What is there to like about it? Besides your hair's orange-ish. It just doesn't work. In any way. At all. End of story."

Jehan pouted. "Well, thanks for telling me sooner. Are you telling me I've been wearing my supposedly heinous shirt and you've never told me I don't look good in it?"

"Jehan, all your shirts are utterly ridiculous. I just thought it was sort of your thing. Y' know? Like wacko shirts. I thought it was to entertain the little kids or something," she said.

"You don't like _any _of my shirts?" he asked in disbelief.

"Well, not _all_ of them are terrible. Some of them are decent," she said, trying to pacify him. He really didn't have a clue how to dress. He threw on whatever with whatever paying no mind to the colors or cut of the shirts he bought. For a guy so attune to the beauty of nature he sure hadn't got down the beauty of fashion.

"Eponine! I feel this is a crisis. You need to take me shopping as soon as we're done with this," he gestured to the mess of frosting and cupcakes. Eponine laughed and agreed.

Several hours later, she was sitting next to a mannequin on a clothing display. She listened to Jehan and Musichetta arguing behind her. When Musichetta had learned they were going shopping she had immediately invited herself along. "Oh I've been waiting for this day for so long!" she had squealed.

"What?! You don't like me clothes either?!" Jehan had spluttered.

"Of course not, darling," she had beamed at him. Jehan had pouted all the entire car ride to the mall. Musichetta had proved to be very picky and harshly critiqued any item Jehan picked up. He'd started picking up things even he knew were ugly just to wind her up. They'd been having this particular argument for the past ten minutes. Eponine pulled out her phone. It had been a while since she'd heard from any of her friends back home. She called Grantaire but he didn't pick up. She tried Cosette next but again no one picked up. So she tried Marius. "Hello?" Marius answered.

"Hey Marius! It's me," she said, relieved that _somebody_ had picked up. "I tried calling your fiancée but se didn't pick up."

"Oh, yeah. She was erm…I think she's in the bathroom," he said. Eponine frowned. Marius was a terrible liar. It was just one of those facts of life.

"Oh, ok. Well, how's everyone been? Haven't heard from anyone in a while," she said, casually. She'd find out why he was lying.

"Oh, uh, we're uh, pretty good. Everyone's good. Yeah, we're great," he said, enthusiastically.

"Well, that's good. How's the wedding plans coming?" she asked.

"Great! Everything's great. They're uhhh….yup they're coming along," he replied. Eponine could practically see him rubbing his neck, avoiding eye contact, shuffling his feet. Oh yeah, Marius couldn't keep a secret if his life depended on it.

"So what else has been going on? Any other news?" she asked, beginning the attack.

"News? What news? Uh, no news. Not really. Bahorel got a dog. That's about the biggest thing that's happened lately," he said.

Eponine grinned. Ok, so something big had happened and it wasn't Bahorel's dog. "Yeah, what kind?"

"A German shepherd I think," he said. "It's big."

"Wow, sounds cool. Tell him to send me pics," she said.

"Ok, I'll tell him. How've you been?" he asked and she could tell he was eager to get the attention away from news back there.

"Oh, not too bad. Just been busy working. I'm out shopping with some friends right now," she said. She'd let him try and distract her. She'd talk about her life. Let him get comfortable and then bam! Out of nowhere she'd ask him what he was hiding. He'd be so flustered he'd let the cat out of the bag. Worked like a charm every damn time.

"Oh yeah? What are you shopping for?" he asked. She explained the situation with Jehan and then started talking about something else. Marius seemed to grow comfortable. He had stopped stuttering and tripping over his words. She talked mostly.

"So that's what's new with me. What've you been hiding?" she asked, gleefully. She imagined the panic look that she was sure had sprung up in his eyes. Imagined his face reddening as he tried to come up with an answer.

"Hiding? I'm not hiding anything. What makes you think I'm hiding anything?" he spluttered. _Hook, line, sinker_ Eponine thought to herself.

There was the sound of a feminine voice and a muffled noise and then "Ponine? Hey! It's me. I saw you called earlier but I was in the bathroom. I tried calling you back but the line was busy and then I came into the living room and saw Marius was talking to you. How's it going?" she said, a little too brightly. Eponine frowned to herself. Cosette was a good secret keeper. It'd be a little harder to get it out of her.

"Oh not too bad," Eponine said, falling back into small talk. She and Cosette chatted for a few minutes without Cosette revealing any small tidbit of information. In fact, if she hadn't talked to Marius first she would never have suspected anything. "I tried calling Taire earlier but he didn't pick up," Eponine remarked.

"Oh I think he was driving Enjolras –" there was a slight pause. "Somewhere," Cosette ended lamely. Eponine perked up. Alrighty. So this secret had to do with Grantaire driving Enjolras somewhere. Why would Grantaire be driving Enjolras somewhere? What's more why was Grantaire even sober enough on a Sunday afternoon to be driving Enjolras anywhere?

"Where are they going?" Eponine asked.

"Uh, I'm not sure really. I didn't get all the details," Cosette said vaguely.

"How'd you guys get Enjolras to trust Grantaire to drive him somewhere?" Eponine asked.

"Oh, I don't know. I suppose because he was the only one available. Joly's studying for some big test. Bahorel had a date with his girlfriend. Nobody could get a hold of Feuilly and Marius and I were visiting my dad," Cosette said. "Grantaire was his only choice really."

"Wait but why did Enjolras need a ride anyways?" Eponine asked.

"I think he was having car problems," Cosette answered. Eponine frowned. Either Cosette was a really good liar or it was the truth. Eponine was going to go with the good liar theory. "Hey, uh, I gotta go. Talk to you later?"

"Yeah, sure. Talk to you. Bye," Eponine said, hanging up. She sat contemplating for a few more minutes wondering what was going on. Why didn't they want to tell her? Maybe later she'd call up Marius again and try to pry some information out of him. For right now she'd try calling Grantaire again.

He picked up on the third ring. "Hey, where'd you go?" he said. She could hear people in the background. It sounded like he was somewhere busy.

"Where'd I go? What?"

There was a stream of indistinct expletives from his end. "Ponine? Shit. I thought you were someone else."

"Why would you think that? Don't you have caller id?" she asked.

"Yeah, I just didn't look at it. I was expecting a call from someone else," he said.

"Were you expecting Enjolras?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah. How'd you know?" he asked sounding apprehensive. She explained her phone call with Cosette.

"Oh, yeah. I had to drive him to a job interview," Grantaire said.

"A job interview? What happened to his old job?" she asked.

"Erm. I dunno. He won't say really. Knowing him he either got fired or quit because he didn't agree with some policy or other of his company," Grantaire chuckled.

"Wait, so he had a job interview on a Sunday?" she asked. That seemed unusual.

"Hey, I'm not the one making up the rules. I'm just the chauffer," he said.

"What's the job?" she asked.

"Some corporate, law firm, office thing. I don't know. Don't ask me questions. All I know is I had to drive him because his car was acting up," Grantaire said. Eponine narrowed her eyes. So his and Cosette's car problem story matched up. And she really wouldn't put it past Grantaire to have no idea what was going on. Maybe she was just reading too deeply into Marius' behavior.

"So where'd he go? How'd you lose him?" she asked.

"Uh, I don't know. I just was looking for him and he's not here anymore," Grantaire said. Eponine sighed. That did sound very Taire-ish. From the background noise she heard something. _Flight 207 boarding in 10 minutes._

"Are you in an airport?" she asked, frowning. That would be weird.

"An airport? Why do you ask?" he said. She couldn't be certain but he might've sounded a little nervous.

"I thought I heard something about flights boarding," she explained.

"Oh, that's the tv," Grantaire laughed easily. "I was wondering what you were talking about airports for."

"Oh, ok. I was wondering," Eponine chuckled. It really did sound like an airport though. Plus that would explain all the other background noise. I mean, was this law office firm corporate thing really _that_ busy on a Sunday. Jehan's head appeared around the mannequin.

"You ready to go, Eponine? Miss Drama Queen finally ended her little spiel," he said, grinning.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a sec. Hey, Taire. I gotta go. Talk to you later?" she asked.

"Yup. I'll call you soon," he said. "Love ya."

Eponine hung up the phone. So maybe nothing really was going on.

**A/N: Just a quick filler chapter. Sorry it's been taking so long to update. My work keeps scheduling me crazy hours. Oh well can't complain. I need the hours. **


	16. Chapter 16

Enjolras tried to settle himself comfortably into an airport chair but gave up after a couple minutes. He was too wound up to relax and took to pacing in front of the window. The afternoon sun glared down at him. Grantaire had gotten him there extremely early which was shocking considering they'd had a good-bye party the night before. They'd all been there, laughing, joking, wishing him well and giving him stern warnings. All of their good-byes had been these weird mixtures of "good luck, get her back, but break her heart and I'll break your face."

"I demand that you call me with any developments. Do not mess this up. You only get one second chance and I will not have you two separated forever because of your stupidity," Cosette said, sternly.

"Yeah, don't screw up, Enjolras. Once was enough," Feuilly said, grinning.

"Stay healthy. You'll need to if you're going to deal with the wrath of Eponine," Joly grinned.

"Don't do anything stupid. Oh, wait you already did. Haha, ok well then make sure you're extra smart to make up for it. Good luck, man," Bahorel said, slapping him soundly on the shoulder.

"You'll figure it out. Go with gut instincts. Don't over think anything," Marius had advised. Enjolras almost laughed remember Marius' words. Of course the boy who met his girl simply because he saw her walking out of a bookstore would say that. But Enjolras had never overthought when it came to Eponine. It was almost always underthinking that he did. She just made him do all these crazy random things that he never meant to do. He'd just do them and end up in awful situations. Like this one. Flying off to California with no idea what to do once he got there. What would he say? How should he act? How would she react? Ugh, why had he rushed into this with absolutely no idea what to do? He'd just have to figure it out as he went. Wouldn't be the first time he'd gotten himself into crazy situations because of her.

It had been the start of their sophomore year at University. They were back from their respective summer vacations, hanging out in Bahorel's dorm. "It was booooring," Bahorel drawled.

"I was basically working the entire time," Feuilly sighed.

"I was basically pissed the entire time," Grantaire laughed.

"I missed at least three major rallies," Enjolras complained.

"I was sick," Joly informed them.

"I barely saw Cosette," Marius moaned.

"Nobody cares!" they yelled at him. Marius sulked.

"Hey! Where's Eponine?" Bahorel asked.

"I texted her. She says she's working but she'll be here when her shift ends," Marius said. "She said it'd be done soon."

"Well, I say we head to the Corinth. I'm in desperate need of a drink," Grantaire said.

"You're underage," Enjolras reminded him. Everyone gave him a pointed look that clearly said, "Is that supposed to deter him?" He shrugged. It might not deter him but neither was that going to deter him from reminding him.

"Someone call Ponine and tell her to meet us there," Bahorel said as they left the dorms. Enjolras obliged.

"Hey Ep. It's me," he said as she picked up.

"Hi, mister. Do you boys not get the concept that when I'm at work you're supposed to bother me?" she teased.

Enjolras chuckled. "Well, maybe if you didn't answer your phone every time we bothered you we would stop," he replied. "But anyways, we're heading to the Corinth. The drunk needs his sustenance. You get off soon, right?"

"Yeah, in like fifteen minutes. I'll meet you guys there," she replied.

Enjolras hurried to catch up with his friends and they set off for the pub. They had just arrived when Enjolras' phone rang. He saw it was Eponine. "Hello?" he answered it, staying outside while the boys went in to find a seat. There was no reply just the sound of muffled voices. "Hello? Ep?" he said. The voices were still indistinct and muffled. He shrugged, thinking she'd only just pocket dialed him. He was about to hang up when the voices grew louder, angrier. He could make the words out more clearly.

"Are you kidding me?" came a loud angry voice.

"I'm done. I told you."

"Oh, you think you're just gonna walk away after everything I've done for you!"

"Oh, you mean like abuse me because that's about it."

"Shut up, bitch! Don't talk to me that way."

Enjolras was subconsciously walking away from the pub as he listened to the conversation. He didn't know who this guy was but how dare he talk to Eponine that way.

"Just leave me alone, ok?"

"GET BACK HERE, BITCH!" the other person yelled, enraged. There was a scuffling noise and then what was unmistakably a slap, followed by Eponine's cry of pain. Enjolras had started running now, pocketing his phone. He hadn't even realized where he was heading until he rounded the corner and saw the bookshop. He slowed just a little, looking for Eponine. He assumed that if she was heading towards the Corinth she'd have to come this way. He was just dashing past an ally when he slammed into someone. A young man, about his own age, dark hair slicked back, impeccably dressed, had just emerged from the side alley and stumbled back at the impact. "Watch it," he growled.

Enjolras frowned. He recognized his voice from the phone call. A quick glance down the alley and he saw someone else. His mind jumped to rapid conclusions. That person down there must be Eponine. This guy must be the bastard who slapped her. Therefore the logical conclusion was to…Enjolras' fist made contact with the guy's face with a very satisfying thud. Things began happening very quickly. The man spewed profanities, clutching his face. The people around them started freaking out. He heard Eponine scream his name. The man retaliated quickly, swinging a fist towards him. Enjolras was ready and ducked, trying to get his own blows in. "Enjolras!" he heard Eponine scream again. He turned his head trying to find her. Bad move. The other man landed a heavy blow to his jaw, followed by a knee in the stomach and then another blow to the head. Enjolras fell back, dizzied. Through his blurred vision he saw her dart between him and the other guy. "Get out of here, Montparnasse," she shrieked. "Don't touch him or so help me I will call the police. Neither of us wants that so get the hell out of here."

"You know this asshole? He punched me," Montparnasse yelled back. "I didn't even do nothing. You saw it."

"Yeah, well it's about time someone gave you what you deserve. Get out of here. I'll deal with him," she said, sternly. "Go! I'll call them, I swear." Montparnasse glared at her but began backing away.

"We're not finished, Ponine. I'll be back," he growled.

Eponine turned her attention to Enjolras. "What the hell?" her voice was a potent mixture of anger and worry. "You could've got yourself killed!"

Enjolras squinted up at her, trying to staunch the bleeding. "You uh, pocket dialed me," he said.

"What?" she exclaimed.

"You pocket dialed me or something. I heard him yelling at you and he hit you."

"So you just what? Came running over here?"

"Well, I assumed you had to be somewhere near the bookshop," he said.

Eponine sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "Thanks for the concern, Enj, but you've just made things a lot messier. Parnasse is probably going to try and kill you now," she said. "And I literally mean kill you."

"Oh," Enjolras said, not sure how else to respond. "Who was he, anyways?"

Eponine was digging through her purse and pulled out tissues and handed it to him. He muttered a thanks and held it to his face. "He's uh…an old…friend," she said.

"Who abuses you?" he asked.

"It's complicated," she said, staring intently at her shoes. "Please don't tell anyone else."

"Why? I could have the boys look out for him, in case he comes around again," Enjolras said.

"No! Don't involve yourself in this anymore than you need to," she pleaded, looking up at him. "Just don't. I don't need you guys playing the hero and getting hurt."

"Eponine, whether or not you want me involved, I'm involved, ok? You just said he'll probably try to kill me. Don't you feel that's a little, I dunno, concerning? What's his deal? What was he trying to make you do?"

She frowned. "He wanted help with some stuff and I didn't want to do it," she said. He didn't say anything in response and she didn't say anything else for a while. "If you see him again or any other…suspicious looking people just go find somewhere safe, ok?"

"Ok," he said, "But only if you do the same." She looked up at him questioningly. "I stay away from those people then you stay away from them."

Eponine laughed harshly. "It's not that easy."

"Why isn't it?"

"Because Parnasse and all the rest they – it's just not that easy, ok?" she looked annoyed with him. He folded his arms and put on his best "I'm a stubborn ass" face. She sighed."Look, Enj. No matter where I go they'll find me and besides if I don't cooperate with them, my brother and sister could get hurt."

"Eponine, who are these people?" he asked. He really knew next to nothing about her personal life. He knew she had a brother and sister. He knew she came from a poorer family. But she never volunteered information about them and he had never thought to ask.

"My dad's gang," she finally replied. "I came here to get away from them but I still got family tying me down to them."

"If you didn't have family tying you down would you be able to leave them completely?" he asked.

"Hell yes," she laughed. "I'd freaking go to the police."

"Why don't you do it now?" he asked.

"What's gonna happen to Gav and Azelma?" she asked. "They can't exactly live in my dorm and there's no way I'm letting them get thrown into the foster care system. I'd never see them again. Who knows what their foster families could be like?"

"If we could get them out of your and somewhere safe would you go to the police?" he found himself asking. He wasn't entirely sure where he was going with this.

"Could you do it?" she asked, raising her face to him hopefully. He didn't know if he could. He'd just started talking, tried to make it better without even thinking.

"I might be able to," he said, trying to sound confident. "I know important people, attorneys, lawyers. They might help you."

"Oh, Enjolras if you could!" she said, breathlessly. "You don't know what this means to me."

Shit. He hadn't meant to get her hopes up. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. It was just an idea with absolutely no stability to it. He obviously wasn't going to tell her that. "I'll see what I can do. I'll let you know if there's anything we can do." Eponine smiled at him, gratefully.

"C'mon. Let's get you back to the Corinth. The boys are probably wondering where you went," she said. As if on cue, his phone rang. It was Feuilly asking where he was. "When they ask about your bruises and that cut, tell them you had a run in with some crazy hobo," she said. Enjolras rolled his eyes but agreed.

It took him lots of very long phone calls and arguing and convincing and bribing but he was able to pull the right strings. Child Protective Services did some investigations. The Thenardiers were found to be unfit guardians. In the process, a few other certain illegal activities were discovered and it wasn't too long before the Thenardiers and most of their gang was imprisoned. Enjolras had managed to get Azelma and Gavroche placed in very good boarding schools. He knew they'd be treated well. Summer breaks they would stay with Eponine. The girl in question violently sobbed when she heard the news. Enjolras wasn't sure if she was happy, upset, relieved or stressed or what. He just awkwardly patted her head while she sobbed into his lap.

"Why are you such a good friend?" she had sat up, attempting to stem the flow of tears. "I've never done anything but shoved all my problems at you and you've helped me through them all."

"Isn't that what friends are supposed to do?" he asked, quietly.

"You know. Taire and me used to joke around that you were this marble man because you never used to show your feelings but we were wrong. Your feelings are a helluva lot deeper than ours. The only way you're like a marble statue is because you're strong enough to take all the shit I've thrown on you. You went out of your way to do all this for me and my family. Why?" she asked.

"I don't know," he shrugged. He didn't. Other than the fact that she was his friend, she was in need and Enjolras always helped his friends in need. Or anyone in need for that matter. "I just like making things ok, I guess."

"Well, things are a lot more than ok," she smiled. "They're a better than ok."

"Flight 456 will begin boarding now." The voice over the intercom startled him out of his thoughts. That was his flight. Oh, shit, this was actually happening. He was actually going to see her. His stomach clenched painfully tight at the thought. He was so nervous. Shit, shit, _shit_. He fidgeted with his luggage as he waited to board. Was he actually sweating? Good lord. He wiped his forehead on his sleeve. What was it Grantaire had said to him as he'd said good-bye? "I'd say good luck but hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn and I know no amount of luck is going to keep you from getting a helluva lotta scorn. Damn, I'm glad I'm not in your shoes." Enjolras had hardly found the words comforting. Especially not right now. His phone buzzed and he pulled it out. It was from Grantaire. "Take care, Enjy darling! You'll make it ok. You always do." Enjolras closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He could do this. Maybe. Hopefully.

"Nervous?" the lady next to him asked. He shrugged and nodded, sheepishly. "Don't worry. We'll touch down before you know it."

"Yeah, that's kinda what I'm nervous about," he muttered as he entered the plane.

**A/N: This was really hard to write for some reason. Anyways, don't hate me for throwing a flashback chapter in. I know we're all very excited for Enj to get to California but I wanted to continue developing their past relationship before we moved on with their new one. And in case anyone thinks I just sorta breezed through that whole Thenardier thingy I wasn't trying to focus on what happened. Just on developing their relationship like I said. Also, I have no idea about all the legal technicalities to make it realistic. (I'm still not even sure if it is. Sorry if it's not.) But yeah, ok. I'll shut up now. Thanks also for everyone's reviews/faves/follows. You make me very happy. **

**P.S. If anyone has any ideas for a cover pic for this PM me! Pretty please!**


	17. Chapter 17

Enjolras tried to distract himself with the various magazines provided for the flight. Articles about better ways to pack your luggage, the best hiking trails in New Zealand, where to find great sushi. They didn't hold his interest for long. He took to doodling on his napkin. When he ran out of room he began nervously tapping a beat onto the pull out tray. The guy next to him kept glancing over at him and huffing in annoyance. Enjolras really couldn't care less if he was annoying the guy. He had too much energy right now, too much stress. He tried to focus it into something constructive. He tried to think about what he might say to her. He almost immediately gave up on that idea because honestly how was he supposed to know what Eponine's reaction to seeing him would be? He might have a good claim of knowing her well, but unpredictable was her damn middle name. She might freak out and run away from him. She might stay and listen to him. She might just start yelling him. He was betting she'd just punch him.

He put his headphones in and thought he'd try listening to soothing music. Then he realized he didn't have any soothing music. He started making a paper airplane out of his severely doodled upon napkin. The guy next to him kept glancing over at him like he was crazy. Maybe he was. And if he wasn't already he was going to be if he had to stay on this plane doing nothing any longer.

The stewardess came by just as he finished tearing his napkin/airplane to pieces. "Hello, sirs! How are you? Can I get you anything to drink?"

"I'll just have a ginger ale," Enjolras said.

"Sure you don't want something with alcohol, kid?" the other guy muttered. "Might help you calm down."

Enjolras gave him an apologetic smile. "That's ok." Ginger ale might calm his stomach. Maybe. But alcohol wouldn't work. Enjolras and alcohol were not in anyway simpatico. He had a rather low alcohol tolerance level. His friends called him a lightweight. "A nine year old girl could hold drink better than you," Bahorel teased. He didn't care though because alcohol almost always made him do stupid random things. This was something he'd discovered during sophomore year.

* * *

He'd been in the library all day. Literally, he waited outside for twenty minutes until it opened and then they kicked him out at night because he had ignored them when they told him it was closing time. There was two weeks until Christmas break which meant finals which meant Enjolras had degenerated into a crazy studying machine. He trudged through the falling snow to his dorm, hoping that since it was a Saturday night it'd be devoid of Grantaire. He pushed the door open and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw there was nobody there. He dropped his things onto his bed, tugging off his hoodie which had become damp with the snow. He pulled out one of his textbooks, flipping through until he found his place and then commenced his reading.

He hadn't been there for long before he heard the door knob jiggling, followed by raucous laughter. The door flung open and all his friends spilled into the room. He scowled at the interruption. "Please tell me you'll be leaving soon," he said.

"Oh Enjy. You think we'd stay in a dump like this on a beautiful night like this?" Grantaire said. "This is a night made for dancing and love. For youthful frolics."

"This night sucks. The weather is freezing," Enjolras muttered.

"Such a killjoy," Feuilly said. Enjolras ignored the comment and went back to studying. His friends continued their loud chatter punctuated with bursts of laughter.

"Enj, have you seen my wallet?" Grantaire called over to him.

"In your jacket in the closet," Enjolras replied automatically.

"Thanks, mom," Grantaire laughed. Enjolras rolled his eyes.

Joly plopped himself onto the bed next to Enjolras. The blonde directed a scowl towards his friend. "Mom? We should call you Grumpy," Joly said.

"We should call _you_, Sneezy," Enjolras returned.

Joly laughed. "Nah, man. I'd be Doc. Marius should be Dopey." They all laughed at that and even Enjolras cracked a small smile. Joly reached over and tapped the book he was reading. "As the most highly informed person in the room on health related issues, I can tell you that staying in your room studying this long will cause severe and lasting damage to your eyes as well as diminishing your brain's ability to function properly."

"Shouldn't you be hyperventilating about how everyone will catch hypothermia if they go out in the cold like this?" Enjolras asked, glaring up from his book.

"That's why I made them all put on warm enough jackets," Joly said.

"Yeah and apparently none of my jackets made the cut so…" Eponine spoke up from Grantaire bed and he saw her tiny form was drowning in one of Bahorel's jackets. Enjolras almost chuckled at the sight.

"Are you all done annoying me? I'd like to get back to my health reducing studying," he said.

"Come out with us!" Joly insisted.

"No, thanks," Enjolras replied.

"Killjoy," Feuilly muttered again.

"Just do it!" Bahorel boomed.

"That's ok, Nike," Enjolras huffed.

"Oh, sass master," Eponine laughed. "Come on, Enj. Do it! Do it!" The others took up the chant, the room filled with their yells. Someone in the room next door banged on the wall and told them to shut up. They stopped their chant for a moment until Eponine began whispering it.

Enjolras had ignored them up until now, pointedly staring at his book. "Come on, Enj. Just try it and if you wanna leave you can just go. Nobody will stop you leaving," Eponine tried to reason.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"One of Cosette's friends is throwing a party. We're meeting the lovebirds there," Joly informed him. He looked back down to his textbook. He'd never taken up any of his friends on their party invitations. Maybe just once he could. He had gotten a good start on his studying during the day. And just maybe they'd get off his case if he went.

"Fine. But then you better not bug me at all about going out again," he gave in. They whooped and pulled Enjolras to his feet and out of the room before he could change his mind. _I'll just stay for an hour and slip out when they're all drunk and won't notice,_ he thought. And he fully intended for that to be the plan.

The party was in some upscale penthouse. Cosette's friend was apparently rich. They wove through the crowds of dancing party-goers looking for Marius and Cosette. They finally located the pair in some window seat. "Hey you made it!" Marius called to them. "And miracle of miracles! You brought Enjolras."

"I'm so glad you could come!" Cosette beamed at them. "Hey Eponine!"

"Hey Cosette," Eponine smiled at her but kept her distance a fact that didn't escape Cosette. Enjolras always felt bad for her. Marius' pretty girlfriend had always tried to get close to Eponine but the other girl resisted it maintaining a warm politeness. Eponine still harbored that resentment towards the other girl. No matter how many times Enjolras had told the girl to let Marius go, she stubbornly clung to him. Her heart was still broken but she hid the pain expertly. Everyone else had assumed she'd gotten over him. It bothered him that she hadn't.

"Hey, so there're drinks over in the kitchen. Dancing out there. I'd avoid the bedrooms and bathrooms. There's a lot of uh…stuff going on over there," Marius pointed. "Have fun."

The others needed no second bidding. Grantaire had already made a bee line for the kitchen. Bahorel was already flirting with three girls at once. Feuilly, Joly and Eponine wandered out onto the dance floor. Enjolras looked around himself confused and feeling awkward. He was completely out of his element. He immediately regretted his decision to come and wondered if it was too early for him to slip out. "C'mon, grasshopper. I shall teach you in the ways of partying hard," Grantaire appeared at his side with two beers. He offered one to Enjolras who immediately declined. "Oh come on, Enjolras. You're at a party. Live a little." Enjolras glared at his roommate. "Fine, whatever. Have it your way. Let's at least find you a girl or something. Who knows? Maybe there's a cute politics major out there and you guys can talk about society reform to your heart's content." Enjolras followed Grantaire into the crowd. They stopped a few times to talk to some people but after Enjolras lived up to Feuilly's accusation of killjoy Grantaire gave up and deposited his friend in a corner before disappearing back into the crowd. Before he left, he gave him a beer. "I know you don't want to drink it but at least hold it. It'll make you look less awkward." Enjolras sat on the edge of the coffee table torn between going back out into the crowded overheated mob or staying in the little corner where at least three couples were engaged in intense make out sessions. He didn't understand how people thought parties could be ways of releasing stress. It just was making him even more stressed. He glanced at the beer in his hand. Maybe it was the alcohol that was stress-relieving. The whole drinking away your problems theory. He took a sip of his beer. He'd tried out the party thing and hated it. He might as well try the drinking thing.

He had only had two beers. It was enough to make him tipsy. Not enough to make him flat out drunk. But he had at least made it out on the dance floor. He'd found Eponine, Feuilly and Joly. They'd been joined by Bahorel and his little entourage. He bounced around to the music because he didn't know what else he was supposed to do. He watched Eponine dance. She danced with this fluidity and passion that was fascinating. One of the girls from Bahorel's posse tried to start dancing with him, distracting him from Eponine. He looked to the others for help but they didn't notice the panicked glances he sent them as the girl's hands smoothed over his body. The girl was good-natured and drunk enough to not care that he was barely responding. He heard a familiar laugh in his ear. "Smooth moves," Eponine said. Enjolras turned towards her. "Enjoying yourself?" she asked, smirking as the girl threw her arms around Enjolras' neck.

"No. Of course not," he said, disentangling himself the girl.

"Me neither. C'mon. Let's get out of this mob. I'm feeling claustrophobic," she said. She grabbed his hand and pulled him along. She wove them through the crowd with expertise, picking up a couple of beers as they passed through the kitchen. They pushed through the French doors to the balcony outside. The blast of cold air was refreshing and Enjolras sucked a deep breath of it in. He exhaled slowly and realized he could see his breath. Eponine busied herself opening the two beers. "Earlier you said you weren't enjoying yourself," he stated, as they leaned against the balcony railing.

She shrugged. "I don't know why I do it," she said. "Torture myself like this." She gestured behind her with her beer and he turned to look over his shoulder, guessing what he would see. Marius and Cosette were visible through the window, very much occupied by each other.

"I don't know why you do it either," he said, sipping his beer. "Just let go already."

"It's not that easy," Eponine said. "You don't understand. You've never been in love. You can't just let go."

"You could if you actually tried, which you don't. Eponine, for the ten millionth time – he's in love with somebody else. It's time to _let go_," he exclaimed in exasperation. He'd had this same discussion with her over and over again.

"Yeah, I know. I know. You're right. But he's kinda the bright spot to my day and if I let him go it'll just be darkness," she said, morosely.

"Oh, how poetic. And what are the rest of us? Chopped liver?" he commented, dryly. For some reason her comment hurt him more than he cared to admit. "I think you're 'bright spot' is blinding you to all the other good things you got going for you."

Eponine ignored this, taking a deep swig from her beer and pretending to be very invested in the view of the city. "So parties really aren't your thing, huh?"

He let her change the subject. He didn't want to talk about it anymore either. For some reason, her talking about Marius had irked him very much, lately. "It would appear so. It's too noisy, too crowded. The only things people seem to do are get drunk and/or get laid. I don't understand how anyone can have fun at these."

Eponine grinned. "Because we're so drunk that everything seems hilarious. You really can't get through these things without the alcohol."

"Sounds absolutely edifying," Enjolras drawled.

"Not everyone is as noble as you, sweetie," she laughed. "More beer?"

"Well, I guess since it's 'the only way to get through it,'" he rolled his eyes, accepting the beer. Obviously, that wasn't a great idea but they were both tipsy and their thinking faculties weren't in proper working order. It didn't take long for him to be more or less drunk.

"It's so cold!" he yelled, rubbing his arms. When they left for the party, he hadn't even had time to grab his jacket. "I'm freezing to death!" They were still on the balcony, trying to catch snowflakes with their tongues.

Eponine giggled. "Here, have my jacket." She was swathed in Bahorel's huge jacket. "It's really warm. All furry on the inside."

"I can't take your jacket from you," he protested, ever the gentleman.

"No, no, we can both wear it," she explained. "Look." She shrugged it off and draped it over him. "Go on, put it on." He obeyed, slipping his arms into the sleeves. "Now, my turn." She pulled him closer and stuck her arms into the sleeves besides his. "Big B's jacket fits us both," she laughed. He laughed too because for some reason it was super hilarious.

"I bet we could zip it up, too," he said. With two pairs of arms in one set of sleeves, it wasn't the easiest task but they somehow managed and pulled the zipper up to Eponine's chin.

"There," she proclaimed, satisfied. "Now we're warm and cozy."

"Too warm and too cozy," Enjolras slurred. "Take it off. It's too hot." It had become tight fit with the zipper up and their combined body heat was trapped in the small space. They fumbled with the zipper for a few minutes, their drunken fingers getting in each other's way.

"Can't," Eponine huffed, trying to move their arms so she could wipe the sweat from her forehead. "It's stuck."

"Well, then let's go find someone to undo it," Enjolras said. This seemed like another great idea. They started for their house, tripped over each other's legs and went crashing to the ground. They both started laughing. It took them a good twenty minutes to stand up. They finally managed to get into the house but when they tried to enlist people's help to undo the zipper, nobody could undo it either. It didn't help that most of the people they asked were as drunk as they were. Feuilly found them still stumbling around the kitchen. "We gotta go," he told them. "Gotta get Taire home. He almost fell off the balcon- what are you guys doing?" He had suddenly noticed the strange sight of Eponine and Enjolras zipped into the same jacket.

"Long story," Enjolras muttered. "Let's go." Feuilly located their various friends, minus Bahorel who had apparently gone home with someone. Eponine and Enjolras maneuvered themselves to the door. It was almost 4am when they finally made it back to the dorms. Enjolras sat on the bed with Eponine in his lap as they fumbled with the jacket zipper. Eponine had kept a steady stream of curses the entire time. Their friends had tried the zipper but it was firmly stuck.

"The furry stuff inside probably jammed it," Eponine said, huffing in exasperation. "I give up. I'm too drunk right now. I can't figure it out." She tried to cross her arms petulantly, forgetting that Enjolras' hindered her. Enjolras laughed and moved his own arms with hers so they both had crossed their arms. Feuilly was retelling Grantaire's near death experience. Enjolras tried to pay attention but he was sleepy. So very, very sleepy. His eyes slowly drooped close.

He woke slowly. His head hurt like hell. His mouth was dry. His legs were numb. He blearily opened his eyes and could see nothing but a mess of dark hair. He blinked again and realized it was Eponine. They'd fallen asleep stuck in the jacket. At some point in the night they had moved so they were lying down. Their arms were still crossed so that essentially that he was hugging her. Somehow in the night, their fingers had become intertwined. _Well, this isn't at all awkward,_ he thought. He unlaced their fingers, the movement causing her to stir and snuggle closer next to him. He sighed and dropped his head back to the pillow, resigning himself to waiting for her to wake up. When she finally did, she blinked confusedly as she tried to stretch but found her arms held down by Enjolras.' "Oh," she said out loud. "Forgot about this. Oh, hey! Your first party you got drunk and slept with a girl. Bravo."

"I don't think this counts as sleeping with a girl," he said.

"Why not? I'm a girl and you slept with me."

"The colloquial would suggest that a lot of other things happened besides sleeping," he replied.

"Ok, Mr. Technical. Just trying to boost your bro points," she laughed.

"Oh you mean my non-existent bro points?" he said. "Because obviously studying and going to rallies wins _tons_ of bro points."

She laughed. "If it were up to me, you'd win tons of bro points for that. Those are things that actually count," she said, solemnly.

"Says the girl who dragged me away from said studying to a party," he said.

She laughed again and even though the noise hurt his head he didn't say anything. "Oh, Enj. Where would I be without your funny little speeches?"

"Probably sulking over Marius," he teased.

"That was below the belt," she pouted. He could tell she wasn't really offended. "Don't I do that anyways, though?"

He shrugged and suddenly became aware that they were still in the jacket. He had forgotten. Even with her basically in his lap, her head leaning back on his chest, his head resting on hers. It had seemed so natural. "Hey, we're still in the jacket," he said.

"Ugh," Eponine said. "I'm so comfortable right now, though."

Enjolras would've agreed but he became a little frightened with just _how_ comfortable he was. "Easy for you to say," he grumbled. "You're the one sitting in my lap. My legs officially don't have any feeling."

"Fine, fine," she said and they slid off the bed, shuffling to the mirror so they could figure out the zipper. It didn't take them too long now that they could actually see the thing and now that the alcohol hadn't clouded their minds. As they slipped off the jacket, Eponine sighed. "And the moral of this story is don't drunkenly zip two people into the same jacket," she said. "A lesson we learned the hard way."

Enjolras smiled and nodded. Except that wasn't the only thing he'd learned. He'd learned that he didn't like parties. He learned that he didn't like drinking. He learned that he really, really didn't like Eponine talking about Marius. He learned that Eponine's hand in his was oddly pleasant. He learned that her hair smelled like vanilla and something citrus-y. He learned that he enjoyed making her laugh a little more than was normal. He swallowed hard. Yeah, he'd definitely learned a lot of things last night.

**A/N: Oh, yay. We're actually progressing with this love story. Good job, Elle. Ok anyways. Thanks for everyone who reviewed, faved and followed. You guys rock!**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Just a random very frustrating filler that I wrote because I couldn't go to sleep last night. Have a happy Independence day for my fellow Americans!**

Enjolras woke up to the sun streaming through the windows of his new apartment. He stretched and yawned. It had definitely been a late night. He looked around at piles of boxes and quickly locating the one labeled clothes. He washed up quickly and glanced at his watch. It was two in the afternoon. He'd slept away most of his first day in California. He glanced out the window taking in the view. He'd been to California many times during vacations with his parents. This was the first time his window hadn't had a beach view though. He saw a little bakery down the street and decided to go check it out. He was starving.

He left the apartment, walking briskly towards the place. He stopped to read the sign above the door. _The Musain_. The bell tinkled as he walked inside. "Hi! How can I help you?" said the pretty young woman at the counter.

"Just looking for lunch," he replied. "What's good?"

"Although this sounds like shameless self-promotion, everything's good here," she said, grinning. "I can make you a sandwich if lunch is what you're looking for."

"That sounds good," he said. He moved to the cash register so she could ring him up. "Do you own this place?"

"Yes, I do. Built it from the ground up," she said, proudly.

"That's awesome. I always try to support small business owners," he said.

"Thanks very much. It means a lot," she said.

"Do you get good business?" he asked.

"Mhm. We're usually busier in the mornings. A lot of people from that apartment complex down the street like to come and hang out here. They like to grab a cup of coffee and a bagel before heading off to work," she explained.

"Yeah, I just moved in over there. It's nice to know there's a place to get coffee close by," he said.

"Oh, you just moved in?" she exclaimed. "Awesome. Well, I hope you like it here."

"I hope so too," he replied as he pocketed his change and grabbed the sandwich she handed him. He turned to leave. "See you around."

"I hope so. Oh, and if a skinny reddish haired guy comes to your door with brownies, don't be alarmed," she called to him. Enjolras gave her a confused look but she just laughed and bid him good bye.

A few hours later as Musichetta was wiping down the counter, Eponine came in. "EPONINE!" Musichetta squealed, when she saw her. "You should've seen him. There is a divinely _gorgeous_ guy who just moved in. You have to see him. He is so hot. Blue eyes, these lush blond curls. Man, he's probably one of those aspiring actors or something but damn he was fine."

Eponine laughed. "I'll have to meet him," she said. "I bet Jehan will enlist me to help make brownies the moment I get home."

"Hey Ferre! Hey Bossuet," Musichetta called to them as the pair came in. "Whatcha doing here Ferre?"

"Bossy's car broke down. Again," he looked at his friend.

"I thought you got it fixed," Musichetta exclaimed.

"I did. This is my new one which is apparently just as crappy as the last one," Bossuet said. Musichetta sighed at her friend's bad luck.

"I was just telling Eponine that she's got a fine new neighbor. He came in here looking like a dream and ordered a sandwich. He was real sweet, too. Said he always tried to support small business owners. I have never seen anyone so pretty in my life," she told the two, with a dreamy sigh.

"Can you hear the bells, Chetta? Can you hear them?" Combeferre teased. Musichetta rolled her eyes and threw her rag at him. "Do I get to be best man? Please?"

"I call maid of honor," Eponine said.

"Ok, then who am I? The ring boy?" Bossuet interposed.

"Ain't nobody gonna trust you with the wedding rings," Eponine teased. "Courf can be ring boy. Bossy you're an usher."

"Well, thanks for planning my wedding guys," Musichetta laughed.

"Who's planning a wedding? Chetta, you're getting married?" Jehan asked as he came in.

"Nothing, I was just commenting on the beauty of your new neighbor," Musichetta explained.

"Oh, yeah. Apartment 45. I passed by him in the hall. I'm gonna bring him brownies later," Jehan said. "Wanna help me, 'Nine?"

"Sure," she said. "Get an excuse to see this hunk of gorgeous."

"You won't be disappointed, darling," Chetta reassured her.

Eponine sat typing at the coffee table. Combeferre sat across from her and Bossuet occupied the couch. "This deadline's ridiculous," Eponine huffed. "I don't know how he expects us to meet this."

"Relax, we'll get there. Lemme see what you've written so far," Combeferre reached across for her laptop. She gave it to him and sat back, running her fingers through her hair. "Hopefully, with this new guy it'll take some of the pressure off. The magazine's gotten so popular and we are severely understaffed," Combeferre said.

"Tell me about it," Eponine sighed. "Wouldn't it be funny if the new neighbor was the new editor?"

"Yeah, that'd be weird," Bossuet replied. "Then there'd be three of us in the same complex."

The doorbell rang just then and Eponine went to answer. "I'm gonna go bring the brownies over," Jehan said as she opened the door. "You coming?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, hon. I've gotta finish this thing by tomorrow morning. We're having a staff meeting or something and I'm barely finished," she said. "Tell me what he's like, ok?"

"No problem. Here have a brownie. I'm sure Mr. Pretty won't notice one missing," Jehan said, taking a brownie from the plate and giving it to her. "Good luck."

"Thanks, Jehan. You're the best," she said, biting into the brownie.

Enjolras had gotten most of his furniture into place. He needed to finish unpacking the boxes. Why did he have so many books? His rather delicious sandwich had seemed years ago and he was getting hungry again. The doorbell rang and he frowned in surprise, wondering if it was the landlord. He had to talk to him about the leaky faucet. He pulled open the door and beheld a skinny reddish haired man, holding a plate of brownies. He suddenly remembered the girl at the bakery. "Don't be alarmed," she had told him.

"Uh, hi," Enjolras said.

"Hi! My name's Jehan Prouvaire. We're neighbors. Kinda. I live on the second floor. I brought brownies," he held up the plate for proof.

"Hi, nice to meet you. Enjolras," he took the brownies. "Come in."

"So, where you from?" Jehan asked, stepping inside his apartment and looking around curiously.

"Uh, New York. Moved here for a job," he said, placing the brownies on the counter.

"Wow, just like 'Nine?" Jehan exclaimed.

"Nine?" Enjolras frowned.

"My friend. She lives next door to me. She moved here a couple months ago from New York," Jehan said. Enjolras nodded and smiled, trying not to freak out. 'Nine? Could that possibly be short for Eponine? Was that her nickname to this guy? All the pieces fit. Moved here a couple months ago for a job. Holy shit! Had he seriously moved into the same apartment complex as her? He honestly hadn't known that. Shit. What if he walked outside and saw her? What if she saw him? What if this guy told Eponine about him? She'd know he was here. Wait! Wasn't that what he wanted? For her to know he was here because of her. All the nerves about seeing Eponine again which he had managed to forget while unpacking came crashing back down on him. But this Jehan guy was still here. He'd have to stay calm.

"That's cool. What a weird coincidence," Enjolras said.

"'Coincidences mean you're on the right path,'" Jehan quipped. "It's a quote from something."

"Oh, ok. Good. Glad I'm on the right path," Enjolras said, unsure how else to respond.

Jehan laughed. "Well, I've gotta go but see you around. Nice meeting you."

"Yeah, the same," Enjolras nodded, showing him to the door.

Eponine sat at the bus stop, rubbing her arms to keep warm. Why did Bossuet's car have to break down again? And where was Bossuet anyways? They always took the same bus in when his car wasn't working. She glanced at her watch. She was early. The bus wouldn't be due for another fifteen minutes. Knowing Bossuet, he'd probably show up just as the bus was about to pull out. She sighed and pulled out her phone to text him. A sleek black Porsche pulled up to the curb in front of her. "Does Cinderella need a ride to the ball?" A familiar voice called to her as the window rolled down. She smiled as she saw Courfeyrac. "Check out my new ride. It's sweet, right?" he said, gleefully. "Hop in. I'll give you a lift."

"Do you normally drive this way in to work?" she asked, as she climbed in.

"Nope, but Ferre told me Bossy was having car issues again and I figured you'd have to take the bus so I thought I'd be a gentleman and see if you needed a ride."

"You mean you wanted to show off your new car," she teased.

"Just can't give me any credit, can you?" Courfeyrac shook his head, sadly as they pulled away from the credit. "You're a cruel, cruel girl, Jondrette."

Enjolras arrived at the bus stop ten minutes before the bus should've arrived. He saw a fancy black sports car at the stoplight further up the street. The windows were down and the radio turned up obnoxiously loud. He rolled his eyes. Sounded like something Eponine would do. Drive around early in the morning blasting music. The light turned green and the car sped off, the music faded away and Enjolras was left in relative peace and quiet. The bus arrived right on time and as Enjolras mounted the steps he heard a shout behind him. He turned his head and saw a bald man running down the sidewalk. "Wait!" he was yelling. "Don't leave." The man came panting up the steps, dropping into the seat across from Enjolras.

"Cut it close, man," said the bus driver.

"Yeah, yeah. I woke up late," the man replied. He turned and looked around the bus, seeming to scan the faces of the other passengers. "You were at my stop, right?" he said to Enjolras.

"Yeah, I was."

"Did you see another woman there? Brown hair," the man asked.

"Can't say I did," Enjolras replied.

"Hm," the man leaned back in his seat. "Wonder where she is."

Eponine rolled down the windows of Courf's car, cranking up the volume. "You're being a public disturbance," Courfeyrac complained.

"Your face is a public disturbance," she shot back, childishly. They were sitting at the stoplight, Eponine tapping her feet to the beat. "Gotta say this is pretty darn nice," she said as she looked around the car. She glanced out the back window and froze. Someone was standing at the bus stop. His build, his height, even the curly golden hair reminded her immediately of Enjolras.

"What're you looking at?" Courfeyrac asked.

"Just seeing if Bossy was at the stop yet," she replied, not taking her eyes away from the blond man. "Betcha that's the new neighbor. Chetta said he was blond."

Courfeyrac glanced in his rearview. "Your new neighbor's blond? Weird. Apparently the new guy's blonde too. Wonder if he's him."

"Who said he was blond?" asked Eponine.

"McCormick. She came in when the boss was having a video call with him," Courfeyrac replied. Eponine didn't respond just sat quietly and tried to quell the strange uneasiness that had settled in her stomach.


	19. Chapter 19

"You're late," Bossuet called to the pair as they rushed into the building.

"Yeah, well we wouldn't be if missy here didn't insist on stopping for coffee," Courfeyrac grumbled.

"Hey, I got my coffee in two minutes. It was your fault for chatting up every single barista in the place," Eponine retorted. "Has the boss noticed?"

"Nope, he's talking to the new guy. He was actually on the bus with me. Guess Chetta's mystery man and him are the same."

"Hey, Jondrette," one of the office assistants came up to them. "Did you see the new guy?"

"No, why?" Eponine asked.

"He is _hot_," she said, grinning. "He looks like he came off a runway."

"Well, then I look forward to meeting him," Eponine replied, smiling.

"Speaking of, Lemarque was looking for you two. He wanted to introduce you," she said.

They both nodded and headed upstairs, looking for their boss. "Well, hopefully with all this hubbub about our new model, Lemarque won't notice that we were late," Courfeyrac said.

"Hopefully," Eponine said. "Just pray that he hasn't been looking for us too long." They ran into Combeferre at the top of the stairs.

"Lemarque's looking for you," he said. "Better hurry up. Oh, and Jondrette. Try not to swoon over our handsome new coworker."

"Are you serious? Is he really that pretty?" Courfeyrac said.

"According to every female in this building, yes," Combeferre replied, laughing. Courfeyrac frowned.

"Jealous, are we?" Combeferre teased.

"Hardly," Courfeyrac shot back. "Let's go." He turned on his heel and strutted off. Eponine and Combeferre exchanged amused glances before she hurried after Courfeyrac.

"Courfeyrac. Jondrette," Lemarque's voice greeted them as he popped his head out of his office door. "Get in here. I want you to meet our newest columnist."

Eponine quickened her step to catch up with Courfeyrac. "Ready to meet the stud?" she muttered under her breath.

"I'm sure everyone's just exaggerating," Courfeyrac whispered back. Their conversation ended as they reached the office. Courfeyrac pulled the door open for her, gesturing grandly. "My lady," he said. Eponine rolled her eyes at him and walked into the office. Lemarque's attention turned from the man at the desk to them.

"Oh, here they are," he said. The other man turned around to meet them.

Time seemed to come to an all too sudden stop for Eponine. She just stared in shock. She could hear Lemarque saying something, introducing him. But he needed no introduction. Enjolras. What the fuck was he doing here?

"Jondrette, you ok?" Courfeyrac seemed to notice her pale face and wide eyes. She didn't answer him. Just stared at Enjolras. He stared back at her. Those beautiful blue eyes holding her gaze. Her mind flew back to a time when she wanted to just drown in those eyes.

"Jondrette?" It was Lemarque's turn to call her name. She ripped her gaze away from Enjolras to look at her boss. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Sorry. Just got a little dizzy for a second," she lied.

"Oh. Ok. Well if you're not feeling well, maybe you should go home," Lemarque suggested.

"I think I'll be ok," she said.

"Alright. Well, take it easy. Anyways, if you two could show Enjolras to his cubicle. And don't forget we have that staff meeting later," he said. Eponine nodded automatically and walked out the door. Behind she could hear Courfeyrac chatting with Enjolras. Making small talk. She walked ahead of them, not daring to look back. What was he doing here? Why was he here? What was going on? Damn him for showing up. Why the –? What the –? Her thoughts flew around her mind in a wild flurry. She couldn't string any of them together into any semblance of coherency. She stormed into her office and sat down at the desk. Courfeyrac popped his head around the corner.

"Are you ok? You gonna help me show Enjolras around?" Courfeyrac asked.

"No," she snapped.

"Ok, sorry," Courfeyrac held up his hands defensively. "Sheesh."

Eponine stared at the screen of her computer for a few moments, trying to steady her breathing. The nerve of him. Just showing up here like it was nothing. And why hadn't anyone told her? She'd have a word or two to say to Cosette and Grantaire. She couldn't believe that he was here. She just...she couldn't. She didn't know what to say to him. She didn't even know how she felt about him showing up here. She was definitely angry but she didn't know what it was that made her angry. Was she angry because she didn't want him there? Was she angry because she had wanted to get over him and it now would be even harder to? Was she still just angry at him for ignoring her? _Crack._ She looked down at the pencil in her hand that she'd subconsciously picked up and subconsciously snapped. "Calm down, Eponine," she whispered. She looked up as Courfeyrac walked back into the cubicle.

"That wasn't very nice. You were kinda rude to him," he said matter-of-factly. "You sure you're feeling ok?"

"I don't know. I just…" she looked up from the pencil and stared at Courfeyrac. "I'll go talk to him." She stood up and walked around her desk in a daze. She walked across the little hallway and into his cubicle. He was sitting at the desk and looked up at her. She could see the trepidation plainly in his eyes. They didn't say anything for the space of several heartbeats. Eponine tried to sort out her whirlwind of thoughts and searched his face, trying to guess what he thinking.

"What are you doing here?" she finally hissed.

"I don't know," he breathed.

"What? What do you mean you don't know? How can you not know?" she spat.

"I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing here or what I hope to accomplish or anything. I just know that," he paused and took a deep breath. "I messed things up and I wanna fix them."

"Oh, and so what? Following me across the country is gonna make things better?" she was making an epic effort to keep her voice low.

"I don't know. It seemed like a start," he said.

"No!" she snapped. "You think you can just waltz back into my life?"

"No," he growled. "I never said that. I just – I just…Eponine, I am a miserable wreck of a human being without you, ok?"

Eponine stiffened. "I want to kill you so much right now," she said, softly. "God, Enjolras. Why do you have to do this to me?"

"Do what to you?" he asked.

"Make me so angry," she seethed. "Damn you, damn you, _damn you._"

"I'm sorry," he muttered, not know what else to say.

"You better be. I could _punch _you right now," she said. She sighed, heavily. "I didn't need any of this."

"I'm sorry. I put you through all this shit and I need to make it ok between us. I'm not asking for you to love me again. I just don't want you to hate me," he said.

She let out a breathy laugh. "Oh, Enjolras," she said, sadly. "As if I could ever hate you." She walked out of his cubicle back into her own. Courfeyrac looked up as she came back in. He was clearly worried.

"Hey Courf. I'm gonna go home. I'm still not feeling up to par. Sorry I snapped at you earlier."

"Want me to drive you home?" he asked, standing up quickly.

"It's ok, hon. I'll take the bus. I'll be fine," she said. Courfeyrac sensed it was wise not to say anything else. Combeferre came into the cubicle.

"Hey, Jondrette." He saw the weary look, drooping shoulders, so different from the vibrant young woman he knew. "You ok?" he asked.

"Not feeling well. I'm gonna go home," she said. "I just need to lie down."

"Ok. Feel better," Combeferre said.

"Thanks," she muttered. She stepped back out, smiling at her two friends. Enjolras stood at the doorway of his cubicle. "Have a nice first day," she said. He nodded, a small frown appearing. She walked away.

**A/N: And so they finally meet again. :D I've got most of the next chapter written so hopefully it'll be up tomorrow. Drop me comment if you wish. Thanks for all you who have reviewed and followed. **


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: First off I am so so so so so sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've had this almost completely written for a while now but I took an impromptu vacation and then I've had a friend staying with me so I haven't been able to post it. But here it is now, better late than never. Thanks so much for everyone who's reviewed/ favorited/ followed. Stay awesome, you guys! **

The day passed in a blur for Enjolras. He was in despair that he felt so clueless. He was happy that she hadn't run away. He was frustrated that he didn't know what to do next. He was comforted that she didn't hate him. He did what he always did best and channeled his many various fluctuating emotions into his work. He barely spoke to his coworkers although they were all very obliging to him. The day drew rapidly to a close and after staying a few minutes to talk to Lemarque he found himself on the bus home. The bald man, Bossuet, was there and the pair made small talk until they reached their destination. They walked to the apartments together, climbing the stairs to the third level. As they reached the second level though, Bossuet stopped. He saw a small huddle of people outside a door further down the hall. "Hold on. I'm just gonna check on them," Bossuet said. The man walked towards the people. Enjolras trailed along behind him a few steps.

The girl from the bakery and the man who brought him brownies (what was his name again?) and Combeferre and Courfeyrac from work were there. That must be Eponine's apartment. "Nine?" called brownie-guy. "C'mon." He knocked on the door.

"Jehan, maybe she just wants to be left alone," said the bakery girl.

"But, Chetta, if she's sick she might need help. What if she passed out and hit her head?" Jehan asked.

"She just said she was feeling a little dizzy, right, Courf?" Combeferre asked.

"Yeah. That's what she said to Lemarqe. I don't know. She was fine in the car but then she suddenly got a little snappy. Maybe she was just having, y'know, lady issues," Courfeyrac said.

"Well, in that case, you all should go," the girl (Chetta?) said.

"Nine?" Jehan had knocked on the door again.

"Jehan, if she's sleeping you might be waking her up," Combeferre said. The door suddenly swung open.

"Hi, guys," Eponine said. Her hair was thrown up in a messy bun. She was wearing a tank top and her baggy sweats. She was holding a tub of ice cream. It was her typical "I'm-stressed-out" look and Enjolras would have smiled if he hadn't been the cause of her stress.

"You feeling better?" Combeferre asked. Chetta was already feeling her forehead.

"I'm fine, guys. You didn't all need to come over to check on me," she said, smiling just a little.

"Oh, we know we didn't _have_ to but we wanted to," Jehan said. "Are you sure you're feeling ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Eponine said.

"You don't feel warm to me," Musichetta said, suspiciously.

"It's because I'm not running a fever. I'll be fine. You guys just – " she paused as she caught sight of Enjolras. "Go have a nice cup of coffee for me at Chetta's," she finished. She hadn't taken her eyes off Enjolras and the others turned to see what she was looking at.

"Told you he was cute," Chetta whispered to Eponine. "C'mon, boys, I'll get you all food. Let's leave 'Nine alone. You get better, girly."

"Thanks, Chetta," she said. They all migrated away from the door and towards Enjolras still a few feet down the hall.

"Wanna come get a cup of coffee with us, new guy?" Chetta asked. "I'm Musichetta, by the way. I don't think we ever introduced ourselves."

"I don't think we did. Enjolras. A pleasure to meet you," he said, shaking her hand. "I'm gonna have to pass on the coffee. I'm a little tired. Still on a different time zone and everything. But uh, yeah. I'm sure I'll see you all around."

"No problem," Musichetta said. The group went back down the staircase and he turned like he was going to go up but he didn't. He waited until they were out of sight before he went back to Eponine's apartment. He knocked on the door and waited.

The door opened a few seconds later. "What's the matt –" she stopped when she realized it was Enjolras. She scowled. "What do you want?" she asked, coldly.

"To talk," he said.

"About what?" she sighed.

"Us. Please I want to do something," he said. "Give me something to work with," he pleaded.

"No!" she huffed and tried to slam the door. He blocked it with his foot. "Go away!" she ground out.

"Are you going to keep ignoring me?" he asked.

"Yes," she hissed, venomously.

"For how long?"

"Until I can be around you without being severely tempted to murder you," she responded.

He sighed. "Eponine, can we please talk?"

"Fine. Let's talk," she said. "You got five minutes."

Enjolras glanced at his watch. "Do want to stay mad at me?"

"No," she said, immediately. He took this as a good sign.

"Then I need to know _why_ you're mad at me. Because I ignored you? Is that it? Because I am willing to give you all the attention in the world right now."

"It's not attention, I want," Eponine said. "I'm not some needy teenager who is upset because her boyfriend hasn't called her in two hours. You hurt me. When you ignored me, it hurt."

"Why?" he asked.

"Do you really not know?" she asked, scornfully.

"It's because ignoring you meant I didn't care for you, right?" he said.

"Right," she said.

"I do care for you, Eponine. You know that. I wouldn't have moved to California if I didn't. I wouldn't be standing here, trying to fix things between us if I didn't care," he said.

"If you cared about me, why did you become so absorbed in your work that you didn't notice anything around you? Why did you not know that I was leaving?"

"Eponine," he said, trying to choose his words carefully. "What do I do when I'm stressed?"

"You find something to channel it into," she replied, scowling.

"My work," he affirmed. "I was working a lot because I had a lot of stress."

"And that's your excuse?" she asked, indignantly.

"No. It's just my explanation. I know what I did was inexcusable," he said. After a moment he asked, quietly, "Eponine, why did you leave?"

She looked up at him, confused. "Haven't we been discussing this the whole time?"

"No. We've been talking about why you're mad at me. Not why you left. You could've just broken up with me. You didn't have to leave everything behind. Your job, our friends, Gav. You left it all behind. Why?"

She bit her lip, looking at her feet. She fidgeted before she finally looked up at him. The tears had started to build but she blinked them away hurriedly. "Because I had to star t over. Because…" she trailed off but then looked up at him suddenly. "Why did you ignore me? Why were you _so_ stressed that you had to work all the time? Why didn't you tell me what was wrong? Why didn't you let me help you? What had I done wrong that you completely shut me out? That's why I left, Enjolras. Because everyday, I would see things, see people that would remind me of us. And I would tear myself apart, asking what I could've done to avoid this. What had I done wrong? Where did I go wrong? Every day, there would be all these questions that I didn't know how to answer and I couldn't face it. So I left." She stared up at him through the tears in her eyes. "I didn't want to live somewhere where I would be reminded that I had lost the person I loved most."

Enjolras clenched his jaw, trying to stave off the tears that threatened to fall. "Eponine, please. I didn't know. I'm such an idiot for ignoring you. I'm such a horrible person and I don't deserve you. You did nothing wrong. It was all me. Please, I don't know how to fix this but let me at least try. Just give me a chance."

* * *

Eponine sat on a park bench aggressively chewing her sandwich, unconsciously glaring at people as she tried to sort out her confused feelings. She didn't want to be confused about her feelings. She had been so certain about them for so long and now she was certain about nothing.

It had all started earlier that week. She was sitting on the floor in Bahorel's room. They were having a study session and for once they were all actually studying. Well except Grantaire because he was sleeping. But the room was quiet and that's all that mattered. "Ponine, do you have an extra pencil?" Marius whispered from his spot on the bed above her. She dug around in her bag before coming up with one. "Here," she handed it to him. "Sorry it doesn't have an eraser."

"That's ok. I never make mistakes," he teased, taking it from her.

"Ha, ha bloody ha," she rolled her eyes. "You're funny."

"Thank you, Ponine," he said, chuckling and tapping her on the nose with the pencil. Eponine smiled back at him and reflected that a few months ago this little moment would have meant the world to her. But over the past few weeks she'd slowly but surely come to the realization that she'd got over him. She always thought it'd be a little more dramatic. Some big thing that would finally make her realize it. But it was just a quiet understanding that he could never be hers and that she was fine with it. She turned away from Marius and caught Enjolras staring at them. She made a face at him and he narrowed his eyes and looked back at his book. Enjolras would be happy to hear she wasn't in love with Marius anymore. That is if he ever stuck around long enough for her to talk to him.

For the past few weeks, ever since they got back from Christmas break really, she had barely seen her friend. He always seemed to be leaving just as she arrived or never around when she dropped by his and Grantaire's dorm. It suddenly flashed through her head that maybe that's what had also made her realize she was over Marius. Not being around Enjolras all the time, well, she'd rather missed him. A lot. A lot more than she liked to admit to. And maybe that missing him was because those feelings for Marius had somehow gotten transferred to Enjolras. Eponine shook her head at that idea. It was weird. Too weird. Way too weird.

The idea however stuck in her mind and grew over the next few days. So here she was, on her lunch break, trying to sort out these confused feelings for him. It wasn't an impossible idea. I mean, he was an extraordinarily good-looking guy, very charming when he wanted to be. He'd been with her through thick and thin, helping her through so many rough patches in her life. It was actually quite chick-flickish. Guy helps girl with all her issues. Girl falls in love with guy. Ok, so maybe it wasn't love but she had to admit to herself, there was some attraction, some feelings that weren't exactly platonic.

"Hey Eponine," said a bright cheery voice, "Mind if I join you?" Eponine sighed internally and turned to face Cosette. Even though she'd gotten over Marius, she still couldn't help the reflexive feeling of resentment towards the girl. Maybe if she didn't have to always look so damn happy. Eponine arranged her features into a smile and scooted over for the other girl. She'd have to get past this some time. It'd been two years and Marius and Cosette showed absolutely no signs of breaking up. If she was going to have to hang around Cosette, she might as well start liking her. Not that she disliked her. She just never tried to actually get to know the girl, keeping their conversations to polite small talk.

"Hey Cosette," she said. "How's it going?"

"Not too bad. You? You looked a little angry when I came up. I almost didn't want to say anything to you," Cosette said, seating herself on the bench.

"Oh, no. I'm fine," Eponine said, automatically. _Ok, c'mon, Ponine. We're supposed to be trying to open up to her._ "Well, actually….I've been kinda having guy problems."

"Oh," Cosette's face lit up. Eponine had a feeling she'd be one of those girls who loved hearing about this stuff. "What's the matter?"

"I think I might have feelings for him. I don't know. I mean. I probably do have feelings for him I just don't want to admit it."

"Who's the guy? Do I know him? Do you think he might like you back?" Cosette asked, immediately. "Wait, can I guess who it is?"

"Uh, sure?" Eponine said, a little overwhelmed by the barrage of questions.

"It's Enjolras, right?" Cosette beamed and when Eponine gaped at her she squealed. "I knew it. I've been waiting for you guys to get together for forever. You'd make the cutest couple."

"Wait!" Eponine spluttered. "How did you know?"

Cosette gave her a pointed look. "I'm not blind. You guys always hang out and just seem to be really happy and totally comfortable around each other. You are like a couple already. Going out all the time, able to finish each other's sentences, always teasing each other, having your own inside jokes," she said.

Eponine made a face. "Until he started avoiding me."

"He's avoiding you?" Cosette frowned.

"Well, I don't know but I never see him anymore. Like you said, we used to always hang out. After we got back from break though, I've barely seen him," she said.

"Did anything happen before break that you can remember? Something that may have upset him?" Cosette asked.

"Not that I can think of. We had finals for the last week and we went to that party at your friend's but I don't think I said or did anything to offend him," Eponine said.

"The party at Bridget's? Where you guys got stuck in the jacket?" Cosette asked.

Eponine nodded. "You don't think he got offended because we dragged him to the party, do you? I mean, first off, he agreed to come and secondly, if he was angry about that he should be angry at all of us. He only seems angry at me. Or maybe because we got stuck in the jacket. Maybe he's mad about that. Although I don't know why that would make him mad. And it was hardly my fault the zipper stuck."

"Maybe because you guys fell asleep in the jacket. Maybe he thinks it's super awkward. Kinda how like, people try to avoid the people they had one night stands with. Except with Enjolras, him being so y'know, virginal about all this crap, maybe he's avoiding you because of that."

"But we were fine the morning after. He didn't act weird or anything. Like I said, it's only after Christmas break," she said.

"Well, maybe you should just ask him," Cosette suggested. "If he's avoiding you, then maybe he'll tell you why. And if he's not then, everything's fine. He's just super busy."

"Yeah," Eponine sighed. "But this still doesn't solve my 'I might have feelings for him' problem."

"Well, maybe once you start hanging out together again, it'll become clearer. And maybe you can get a feel for whether he has feelings for you," Cosette said, smiling slyly.

"As if," Eponine laughed. "I'm doomed to fall in love with guys that would never like me back."

"Oooh, tragic tale of unrequited love?" Cosette asked, eagerly.

"Something like that," Eponine muttered, having no desire to explain further. Thankfully, Cosette dropped the subject.

"So you should figure out this whole Enjolras thing, right now," Cosette said.

"Now? I can't right now. I've got to go back to work," Eponine protested.

"Well, text him. Tell him you want to meet up or something," Cosette said. Eponine sighed and pulled out her phone. Cosette bounced excitedly next to her. "I can't wait for you guys to get together," she said. Eponine shot her a doubtful look and Cosette just giggled.

"There," Eponine announced, hitting the send button. "Message sent."

Cosette smiled. "Now all we have to do is wait."

And wait they did. Cosette stayed with Eponine until the end of her lunch break. The girls talked and chatted about various this and that's. Enjolras didn't text her back. "Well, tell me when he texts you," Cosette said as Eponine rose to go back to the bookshop. Eponine assured her she would. Except that Enjolras didn't text her back. Not during work. Not after work. She dumped her things off in her dorm room and texted a reply to Cosette's seven "Did he text you?" texts. Cosette immediately replied saying to find out where he was and then tell her so that they could both go find him. Eponine texted Marius.

_Do you know where Enjolras is?_

_Yeah. He's here with me at the Corinth._

_Oh. Ok. Me and Cosette are coming over there. _

_Oh. Cool. Didn't know you guys were hanging out._

_See you in a few._

Eponine shot off a text to Cosette informing her where she was going and then started for the Corinth. She hummed cheerfully as she walked. Her chat with Cosette actually helping her feel better. Marius would be very pleased to hear that the girls were (finally) getting along. As she approached the pub she saw Cosette waiting for her outside. "C'mon. The boys are all inside," Cosette said. "Just play it cool. Be as natural as possible. If he tries to leave then stop him. Make casual small talk." Eponine rolled her eyes as Cosette continued to whisper advice to her as they went to the pub. The boys were in their usual booth. Joly, Feuilly and Bahorel were playing cards. Marius and Grantaire were having a conversation. Enjolras was bent over a book, looking deep in thought. "Hey boys," Cosette called out. The boys looked up and the girls were greeted with a chorus of "Hey Cosette! Hey Eponine!" There was also a loud "Hey Alien!" from Bahorel. That had become his nickname for Eponine since he'd realized her initials were E.T.

The girls shoved themselves into the booth, Cosette next to Marius and Eponine next to Joly. Enjolras was directly across from her. "Hey Enj," she said, lightly.

"Hey," he muttered. Already he was closing his book, rooting around under the table for his bag, getting ready to leave.

"Are you leaving?" Eponine asked.

"Yeah, I want to go study where it's quieter," he said.

All of Cosette's advice about just playing it cool and making small talk and stuff flew out of her head. "Are you avoiding me?" she asked, bluntly.

Enjolras looked at her in surprise, frowning. "Why would you say that?"

"Well," she said, defensively, "I never see you anymore. You always leave as soon as I enter the room or if you stay you refuse to talk to me."

"So? I've been busy," Enjolras said, now taking the defensive.

"And is your phone broken? Because you never answer my texts," she said.

"I've been busy. I can't attend to you at all times. Sheesh," he snapped. "I'm not at your beck and call."

"Oh, well excuse me, if I just wanted to hang out with my best friend," she retorted. With that, she stood up and stormed out of the pub. Had she stayed around a few moments longer, she would have seen all her friend turn on Enjolras, glaring at him, accusingly. Enjolras, however, paid them no attention for he had already taken off after her.

Eponine hurried along the sidewalk, head down, doing her best not to cry. His sharp words had stung her. Obviously, he didn't like her or else why would he have said that to her. He hadn't even noticed they weren't hanging out that much. He hadn't even cared. "Eponine! Eponine!" she heard him calling after her but she only quickened her pace. "Eponine!" his voice was much closer now and she soon felt a strong grasp on her arm. She yanked herself away and glared at him.

"I don't want to hear your apology. You can't make me listen. After all, I'm not at your beck and call," she mocked, bitingly. She waited to hear his flustered protests and apologies but instead she heard...

"Go out with me." Eponine blinked in confusion.

"What?"

_"Will_ you go out with me? Please." He held her gaze, his face a mixture of apprehension and excitement.

"What?" Eponine repeated, still too shocked to say anything more.

"Eponine, I like you. Ok? And by like I mean _like_ as in more than a friend. I realized it around Christmas – when I woke up with you in the jacket to be precise – and I freaked out because you like Marius and I'd gone and started having feelings for you so yes, I was avoiding you because I was hoping they'd go away. I tried to channel my feelings for you into school which didn't help at all and so yeah, I wanna go out with you. I know you like Marius but please...Just give me a chance."

"I don't like him anymore," Eponine said.

"What?" It was Enjolras' turn to look shocked.

"When you started avoiding me, it made me realize that I didn't like Marius anymore," she said.

"Why did it make you realize that?" he asked, perplexed.

"Because I missed you so much. Because without you around I had lost my best friend and the guy I'd rather spend time with more than any other guy. Including Marius."

Enjolras frowned and she could visibly see him making conclusions. "So you like…me?" he asked, incredulously.

"Yes," she said, almost shyly.

"So you'll go out with me?" he asked.

"What do you think?" she said, rolling her eyes. Enjolras grinned.

Their first date followed a few nights after. Enjolras was very stiff and nervous for the first bit. He was trying too hard to make it a date. But he soon forgot all about trying to be a romantic gentleman and lapsed back into the silly, stubborn, argumentative, passionate boy that she knew. That night before he left her at her dorm, he kissed her. Just on the cheek. A very sweet and innocent gesture. Eponine watched him go and smiled to herself. So maybe she wasn't doomed to always fall in love with the wrong guy.

* * *

Eponine just stared at him and Enjolras was beginning to feel uncomfortable. "Eponine," Enjolras said, deciding her silence had become too suspenseful for him to bear. "You said you didn't want to stay mad at me and I'm pretty sure you meant it. I messed up, I know. But I'm here now, trying to fix it. Just give me a chance." He unknowingly repeated the phrase again.

It had been those words that had made her freeze, caught her attention. It was the same one he'd used the first time he'd asked her out. When he still thought she was in love with Marius. He thought he had had no chance then. He knew he had no chance now but still he begged one from her. "Fine," Eponine said, slowly. "No dating. We're going to take things very, very slowly."

"What does that mean?" Enjolras asked, apprehensively.

"It means we start back at ground zero. We fix our friendship before we fix our relationship," she said.

"Ok," Enjolras smiled. "If that's what you want."

"It's what we need. We stopped being friends. We stopped telling each other everything, being comfortable around each other. If we're going to try this thing out again we start out as friends. Alright?"

"Alright," Enjolras agreed, immediately.

"Five minutes is up," she said and the door closed. Enjolras exhaled slowly. She was still mad at him but they'd at least made a start.


	21. Chapter 21

Eponine sat at the bus stop the next morning. She fidgeted as she sat, trying not to look over her shoulder to see if Enjolras was coming yet. She sighed and wished Courfeyrac would come pick her up again that way she wouldn't have to endure the bus ride in with Enjolras. Also because then she could pick up good coffee not that nasty crap they served at work. And she desperately needed coffee this morning. After she had unceremoniously shut the door in his face, she had stayed up into the early hours of the morning. She'd called up first Grantaire and then Cosette, yelling at them both for not telling her about Enjolras before allowing them to placate her. She needed their comfort and support more than she wanted to be angry at them.

"Hey," she heard his voice and stiffened. She glanced over her shoulder where he stood awkwardly next to the bench. She nodded in acknowledgment and turned back around to stare at the empty street. "I was just wondering," his voice became closer as he moved around the bench and stood next to her. She still didn't look at him. "Are you going to tell your friends? Because they'll probably find out."

"Yeah, I guess," she sighed. She hadn't thought about that. "I'll tell them."

"Ok," he said. A tense and awkward silence descended on the pair. After a minute, Enjolras made an attempt to talk to her. "So how do you like California?"

"It's fan-freaking-tastic," she replied, blandly.

"Glad to hear it," he said. "I always liked my family vacations to California."

"Liar. You hated all your family vacations because you were missing your precious rallies," she muttered.

"Well, I hated the vacations here least," he said, trying not to smile. This was their first actual conversation. But there the conversation ended for she didn't say anything else and he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Hey guys," Bossuet jogged up to the bus stop. "How you feeling, Jondrette?"

"Better, thanks!" she said, smiling up at him brightly. He took a seat next to her.

"What'd I miss yesterday? How was the meeting?" she asked, turning towards the man and turning her back on Enjolras, completely ignoring him. While Bossuet brought her up to date, Enjolras checked his phone. There were several texts from Grantaire asking if he knew where the hell he'd put his spare key. Enjolras sighed and replied that it was inside the Pink Floyd album. A car pulled up to the curb just as he finished sending the text.

"Get in, losers, we're going shopping," Combeferre called to them, rolling down his window. Eponine and Bossuet burst out laughing. She looked over and saw Enjolras looking slightly confused. He'd never been one for pop culture references. Eponine called shotgun and ran to the car before anyone could dispute it. Bossuet followed her. "C'mon, Enjolras," Combeferre called. "Get in. Don't be a stranger." Enjolras smiled and climbed into the car.

Eponine had already taken control of the radio, blasting the music. Combeferre was trying to reason with her to turn it down. Eponine just sang along with the music, loudly. "You'll have to forgive Jondrette," Combeferre said over his shoulder. "She can be a little uncompromising at times." Enjolras just smiled and shrugged, trying to denote his indifference. "Seriously though, Jonny," Combeferre said, taking advantage of her momentary distraction as she rolled up the window and turning the volume down. "You're gonna make us all deaf."

Eponine heaved a huge, dramatic sigh. "Fine, fine. Be a party pooper." She stared out the window, drumming her fingers loudly on the car door. They drove in a silence that became more and more awkward with every minute.

"So, Enjolras," Combeferre said, deciding to strike up a conversation. "How did you like your first day?"

"It was great. I think I'm gonna like it here," he said. "There're a lot of fresh ideas and different viewpoints among the staff. It's a great environment for a magazine like this."

"Yeah, that's why the magazine's been getting so popular; because there are so many different stances among the writers," Combeferre said. "It makes for great debates over lunch break."

"Because only you waste lunch breaks talking about work," Bossuet muttered.

"At least I'm not addicted to Candy Crush," Combeferre shot back.

"And at least I'm not addicted to online political forums," Bossuet retorted.

"I think my online activity is a little more edifying than yours," Combeferre replied evenly. "Political forums are a great way to get feedback on ideas. I've met, so to speak, lots of very insightful people on them who've helped me with research."

"Oh, that's right," Bossuet said. "You and your online boyfriend."

"He's not an online boyfriend, Bossy," Combeferre sighed. "He's an acquaintance."

"That you've known for what? Four years?" Bossuet asked. "What's his name again?"

"I don't know his name. I told you. We just communicate through the forums," Combeferre said.

"What forums are you on?" Enjolras cut in. Combeferre listed them. Eponine shifted in her seat and looked back at Enjolras. He caught her glance and smiled just a little. She turned back around. She knew that, like Combeferre, Enjolras was a little addicted the forums as well. He'd get really excited over the debates and become very involved in them. _Probably what he was doing half the time he was ignoring me,_ she thought bitterly.

"Oh, I'm on those, too. What's your username?" Enjolras asked, politely.

"Cferre65," Combeferre answered.

"No kidding!" Enjolras exclaimed, "I'm Enj1832."

"What?!" Combeferre shouted. "No way! For real! You're him!"

"Yeah. It's me. Oh my gosh!" Enjolras said, laughing. "Who would've thought?"

"This is the guy, Bossy. The one on the forum," Combeferre explained.

"I gathered," Bossuet said, dryly. "That's really weird that you two met."

"You don't know how much our debates have helped me," Enjolras was saying.

"Yeah, you've actually helped me with some of the columns for the magazine," Combeferre said.

"Well, aren't you two a match made in heaven?" Bossuet sighed but neither heard him. They were too busy talking politics. Eponine listened to the pair going on and on. Listened to Enjolras spew out his passionate beliefs and Combeferre combat them with his gentle but firm understandings. How many times had she listened to him prattle on and on about the brilliant Cferre65? Too many to count. How odd that it was Combeferre all along. Eponine willed herself not to look back at Enjolras. He'd be in fine form, eyes ablaze, the barest hints of a smile at the corners of his lips. He'd always looked like that when he was particularly enjoying a debate. He always looked so deliciously stunning. Sometimes, she'd get him going in a debate just for the sake of seeing him like this. She'd always ended up kissing him senseless but that wasn't an option right now. So she refused to look at his stupid gorgeous self.

They pulled into the parking lot and Eponine got out of the car as quickly as was humanly possible and was striding into the building before the rest were even finished unbuckling their seatbelts. "Hello, my dear. Feeling all better?" Courfeyrac met her at the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah, I'm good," she replied.

"So weird for you to get sick like that," Courf said.

"Yeah, maybe I just ate something I didn't like," she said.

"Or maybe it had to do with your ex showing up out of nowhere," he said, smugly. Eponine froze and stared at him.

"What?" she breathed.

"I'm not stupid, Ep. When we went to Chetta's last night, I just knew I'd seen him before. It was bugging me really bad. I couldn't figure it out. Well, until I did figure it out. Your facebook. I'd seen pictures of him on your facebook. He used to be in your profile pic before you changed it to that one of you and Chetta."

"Yeah, ok, so he's my ex," Eponine said, feeling uncomfortable.

"And did he move out here simply because of a job or did it have to do with you?" Courfeyrac asked.

"Why do you care?"

"Well, because I just want to know what the status is between you guys," Courf said. "Like are you good with each other? Is there going to be shitloads of sexual tension every time you're in the same room?"

Eponine sighed. "It was a bad break-up. Neither of us was very happy about the way it ended but c'est la vie."

"So that's a no, you guys aren't friendly?" Courfeyrac asked.

"I don't know. We're not unfriendly. Or at least he's not," she said. "I might be a little unforgiving at the moment. I don't take kindly to my exes popping up out of nowhere."

"It's ok. I'd probably be pissed too," Courfeyrac said. He looked over her shoulder as Combeferre, Bossuet and Enjolras walked inside. "Ferre and him seem very friendly."

"They realized in the car that they knew each other through online political forums," Eponine shrugged.

"Wait!" Courfeyrac laughed. "Your ex is Ferre's online boyfriend?"

"Yes," Eponine said. "It's very weird to think you were calling Enjolras Ferre's online boyfriend at the same time that I was still dating him."

"In our defense, we didn't know you existed," Courfeyrac chuckled. "But uh, you don't mind? Them being friendly and all?"

"No. Why would I mind?" Eponine frowned.

"Well, I don't know. I just assumed that we'd all shun him because he's your ex," Courfeyrac explained, shrugging.

Eponine laughed and shook her head. "Oh, Fey, no! Don't mind me. We're trying to get back on good terms anyways. But thanks for the sentiment. You're the best," she said.

"Yes, yes, I know," Courfeyrac replied

"Jondrette, Courfeyrac, if you two will stop gabbing, we need to get this show on the road," one of their workmates called down the stairs to them.

"Paperwork for you two," Combeferre called to them from his cubicle as they came up the stairs. They stopped to gather it, chatting amiably. "I still can't believe I actually met Enj1832."

"Still can't believe you're openly fangirling each other," Eponine mumbled.

"Oh, c'mon, Jonny-my-drette! Don't be a spoil sport," Combeferre laughed. "He's a political genius."

"Yes, yes, I know," Eponine sighed.

"Are you gonna tell him?" Courfeyrac asked.

"Tell me what?" Combeferre perked up.

"Well, obviously, I'll have to now that you brought it up," Eponine said, glaring at Courf.

"Tell me what?" Combeferre asked again.

"Enjolras is Jondrette's ex," Courfeyrac blurted.

"Well, thanks for sharing, Courf," Eponine smacked him with her folder.

"Wait, for real?" Combeferre frowned.

"Enjolras and I know each other from New York. We went to college together, dated for a couple of years. We broke up before I moved to California," she admitted.

"Oh, shit! I'm so sorry. Is that why you left yesterday? Wait, sorry, that was personal," Combeferre said. "Are you ok? If I had known, I wouldn't have given him a ride."

Eponine smiled. "You guys don't have to shun him on my account. I'm fine with you guys being friends. Really. Don't let me stop you from getting to know him."

"Are you sure?" Combeferre asked, worriedly.

"I'm completely sure," she said.

"Well, just as long as you're ok with it. I kinda invited him to coffee with us, too," Combeferre said.

"I'll be fine," she said, reassuringly, before walking to her cubicle. Having missed a day, she found her tasks doubled and so she set diligently to work. She was immersed in her work when she heard someone clearing their throat. She knew it was Enjolras without looking up. Was it weird that she could identify him just by him clearing his throat? "Yes?" she said, still keeping her eyes on her work.

"I'm supposed to talk to you about this," he said. She finally looked up and saw him holding out a file. She took it from him looking it over. It was about some new bill that was trying to be passed. "LeMarque wanted me to get your insight on it because you did a piece on it in last month's issue."

"Oh," she said. "Yeah, I did. You can read it if you want to." She opened her drawer to rifle through her files.

"I already read it," he said.

"Of course you did," Eponine sighed. The boy always did his homework. "So what do you want to talk about?"

"I have a few questions," he said. "Just some things that I have a few issues with." She glared at him. "What? Come on, Eponine. We both know we almost never initially agree on anything."

"They call me Jondrette here," she said.

"What?" he frowned.

"It's a thing. Everyone calls everyone by their last name," she said. "They call me Jondrette."

"Oh," he said. "I forgot you changed your last name."

"Well, I've always done my best to cut ties with people from my past who've hurt me," she said, bitingly.

"And I've always done my best to try and help you move past your hurtful past," he said. She looked up and met his gaze. "And you've always let me try."

"What problems did you have with my article?" she said, shying away from these dangerous topics. They soon fell into an argument over her article and Eponine hated to admit it but she had missed this. Missed their debates, their battles of wit and will. When he finally went back to his own cubicle soundly defeated, she could practically feel the cracks in the walls she built to block him out. She hated herself for being so weak.

Later that day as they were gathered in Chetta's café, the conversation at the table was slightly stilted. Jehan and Musichetta had been informed about Enjolras and though they all tried to play it natural, there was no denying the tension between the pair. Eponine pointedly ignored him. Enjolras returned the favor, doing his best to be friendly to everyone but her. She figured he was still pissed about their argument. He always was a sore loser.

"Hey, here's your coffee," Courfeyrac said, coming up to the table and setting the cup before her. "Chetta made me make it myself."

"Thanks, Courf," she said, lifting the cup to her lips. She blew on it before taking a small sip. "Just the way I like," she grinned up at him.

"Well, I should know by now, shouldn't I?" he replied, returning the grin.

She turned her attention back to Enjolras, who was frowning at the newspaper in his hand. "Courf makes the best coffee," she addressed him. "He somehow manages to make even the crap coffee at work taste good."

"Anyone who puts as much cream as you do shouldn't even be able to taste the coffee," Enjolras muttered.

"Coming from the guy who puts three packets of sugar in his," she retorted.

"I don't like it super bitter and maybe if you didn't always insist on buying random crap brands I wouldn't have to use three packets of sugar to make my coffee taste good," he shot back.

"You didn't _have_ to drink it," she said. "Nobody forced you to drink my random crap brands."

"I needed the caffeine," he said.

"Addict," she taunted.

"Addict yourself, Miss Three-Cups-A-Day," he said.

"I'm sorry but you guys are just really adorable," Jehan interrupted. They both turned on the man who shrugged defensively. "Not to make it awkward or anything. Just saying."

"Well, stop saying, Jehan," Eponine huffed.

"Well this is uncomfortable," Courfeyrac muttered. "Time to change the subject, I think. Hey Jondrette, did you see there's gonna be a White Collar re-run marathon this weekend."

Enjolras snorted. Eponine glared at him. "Shut up, Enjolras," she growled.

"I'm the one who got her addicted to that show," he said, proudly. "She insisted it was crap even while she religiously watched every episode."

"I didn't call it crap. I said it was unrealistic," she argued.

"It's a TV show, of course it is," he said.

"Not all TV shows are that unrealistic," she said.

"Name one that isn't," he challenged.

She glared at him for a moment. "Antique Road Show."

"That doesn't count," he said. "We're talking about fictional shows."

"You never specified," she said.

"Oh, you're full of it," he muttered. She rolled her eyes and looked out the window. He sighed and went back to his paper. They didn't notice the rest of the group exchanging subtle glances and suppressing grins.

As they walked back to the apartments, Musichetta and Combeferre trailed behind the rest of the group. "So is it just me or are those two so incredibly hot together?"

"Yeah, I wonder what made them break-up," Combeferre replied.

"I don't know but it has to have been big. They are still very blatantly attracted to each other," Musichetta proclaimed.

"Because obviously arguing over every single damn thing denotes a great deal of attraction," Combeferre chuckled.

"Well, in this case, yes. I just wish we knew why she broke up with him," she said.

"How do you know he didn't break up with her? Or that they both decided?"

"Because he moved to California for her," Musichetta said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"How do you know?"

"Ferre, honey, I think you need to get stronger glasses if you can't see that," she said. Combeferre adjusted said glasses and chuckled.

"You think they'll get back together?" he asked.

Musichetta shrugged. "Well, it's either that or they end up murdering each other."


	22. Chapter 22

"What do you think you're doing?" Eponine asked Jehan, as he followed her inside her apartment. They had just said goodbye to the others as they all went back to their respective homes. Well, except Jehan apparently.

"Coming inside," Jehan said, disarmingly. He made a beeline for the couch, leaping onto it and grabbing a squishy purple pillow he'd declared was "his."

"Jehan, not now," Eponine sighed, feeling very much like she was chiding a five-year-old.

"Eponine," he said. "Do you know what time it is?"

"Time for you to go to your own apartment," she replied.

"No," Jehan said, talking like he did to his preschool class, "It's time for you to spill your secrets."

"Jehan, I'm not in the mood," Eponine groaned.

"How did you two break-up? What was the reason? Was it mutual?" he ignored her protests.

"I don't want to talk about him," Eponine sighed.

"We have to," Jehan insisted.

"Why do we have to?"

"Because if we don't, neither of you will heal from your broken hearts," he said.

"What makes you think either of us is broken-hearted?" Eponine asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I can hear the shattered pieces rattling around in your ribcages," Jehan said.

"No, you can't," Eponine rolled her eyes.

"Whether or not I can is beside the question. Tell me about him," Jehan said. "He is a hard one to figure out. He looks like a golden god descended from the heavens to grace us mortals with his presence. He talks to us like a polite well-bred socialite's son. He talks to you with a barely restrained passion. What is he? This god of light and fire."

"He's Enjolras," Eponine said, as though that answered everything. When Jehan pressed her for more, she sighed and gave in, settling on the couch beside him. "He's brilliant. The smartest person I've ever met. He's focused and determined. He can be very charming at times. Most of the time, though, he's too busy with things to be charming. When he becomes focused on something, it becomes his entire world. There is absolutely no room for anything else. And so that's why I left him. Because there was no more room for me in his little world of politics, rallies and saving the damned."

"He sounds like quite the hero," Jehan remarked.

"He is. That's all he's capable of being. But I don't need a hero anymore," Eponine said, thoughtfully.

"No, you are definitely not the damsel in distress in this story," Jehan said. They fell into silence for a few moments.

"And so how exactly was this supposed to help me?" Eponine asked.

"Talking about our problems always helps. That's why people write sad poems and songs. Because we like to turn our sorrows into words. It's our way of taming them," Jehan said.

"Seriously, do you make these up on the spot or do you just have a million and one quotes stored up in your head," Eponine laughed.

"You're changing the subject," he accused.

"Remind me again what it was," Eponine said.

"We're talking about Enjolras. Do you still love him?" Jehan asked.

Eponine regarded him a moment. "I love what used to be him. He's changed though."

"And so I'm sure have you," Jehan responded.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"It means that I'm sure you've both been changed by this and maybe you're new selves will like each other more than your old selves did," Jehan said. "You just have to give each other a chance. Forget how badly he hurt you. Forgive how badly he hurt you."

"Why do you even care so much? Why do you want us to get back together so badly? You've only known him for a day," Eponine narrowed her eyes at him.

Jehan shrugged. "You guys seemed like you could be good together."

Eponine rolled her eyes. " Oh, I know what you're doing. You're shipping us aren't you?"

Jehan grinned. "For having known me for only a few months, you know me far too well."

"Jehan!" she glared at him. "We are not going to be your damn ship!"

"I have every right to ship who I want!" Jehan proclaimed.

"Ugh, you're such an idiot," she threw a pillow at him.

"I see the potential which clearly you do not. I mean c'mon. You've even got a cool ship name. Enjonine. I mean how cool is that? Also, all your little arguments should have been rated R because there was just so much sexual tension. Like, I'm seriously surprised the whole place didn't burst into flames."

"You've been watching too many chick flicks," she said.

"You say it like it's a bad thing," he scoffed. She rolled his eyes and threw another pillow at him. "Besides, I guarantee I'm not the only one who saw what I saw. There is definitely potential."

"Fine. Wanna bet?" she said eager to prove him wrong. "We'll ask everyone else whether they think Enjolras and I have any potential. If more than half say no then you relinquish your chick flick collection to me for two weeks."

"And if more than half say yes you have to give me your solemnest promise that you'll give Enjolras a chance," Jehan said.

"I already told him we could be friends," Eponine protested. "I said we'd start over again."

"Eponine, might I just say that in the hour or so that you were at the café you made absolutely no effort to be friendly to him and every effort to freeze him out. Doesn't sound like good progress to me."

"These things take time," she protested.

"So don't waste his time or yours. If you really don't want to be friends then just say so," Jehan said.

"I do want to be friends," Eponine groaned. "It's just really hard. He hurt me."

"And now you're hurting him," Jehan chided. "Do to others as you would have them do to you. Golden rule, eh?"

"You don't even know him and you're already on his side," she pouted.

"Wrong. I'm on your side. I have a feeling, mending your relationship will make you happy," Jehan said, gently. Eponine smiled a little and pulled him into a hug.

"You're a sweetheart," she murmured.

Eponine squared her shoulders and took a deep breath before walking out the door. Jehan had texted Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Chetta and Bossuet and all had replied that why, yes of course they had potential. So Eponine was giving Enjolras a chance. A real one. Jehan had been right. She really hadn't tried yesterday. She'd been too angry at him. As they had kept up their bickering yesterday though, her anger had slowly ebbed away and been replaced with a sad sort of longing for old times. Times when their bickering had been a sign of how comfortable she was with him that she could argue over stupid things like whether scented or unscented laundry detergent was better. She smiled to herself when she thought of that particular argument.

As she walked to the bus stop, she could see he was already there on the bench, looking at something on his phone. "Good morning," she said, as she approached.

He looked up, warily and she could tell he was trying to decipher her mood. "Hi," he said, cautiously, before going back to his phone. She sat down on the bench and he glanced at her again, with a small frown.

"Did you get that report done?" she asked.

He looked up from his phone. "Um, yeah. I finished yesterday," he replied. His attention was drawn back to the phone as the screen lit up with a new text. He read it and sighed heavily.

"What?" she asked.

"Grantaire," he answered.

"Is he being an annoying little shit again?" Eponine questioned.

"When is he not," Enjolras rolled his eyes. He focused on typing a reply and Eponine waited patiently for him to finish.

"So what happened to your car?" she asked. "Are you ever gonna ship it out here?"

"Yeah, probably," he nodded. He started to look up from his phone back at her but then he got a new text. Eponine frowned. She was trying to talk to him, damn it. She sat for a moment in silence and Enjolras paid attention to his texting.

Fed up, Eponine pulled out her own phone. _Stop texting him. _She sent it off to Grantaire.

_What?_

_Stop texting Enjolras._

_Why?_

_Because I'm trying to talk to him and you're distracting him._

_Are you at work?_

_No. We're waiting for our ride._

_What are you trying to talk to him about?_

_I don't know. I'm just trying to talk to him._

_YOU MEAN YOU'RE NOT TRYING TO RIP OUT HIS GUTS?!_

_ …__..no._

_What brought about the change of heart?_

_I lost a bet. I have to give him "a real chance."_

_Who'd you lose it to?_

_My friend. According to him, Enjolras and I have "potential." So he's making me actually try to talk to him._

_Oh and I'm sure that's the only reason you're trying to talk to him._

_Good-bye, Grantaire. Stop texting him._

_I'm not texting him. I'm texting you._

"Why did you tell Taire to stop texting me?" Enjolras was looking over at her.

Eponine mentally sighed. Trust Grantaire to have no idea about discretion. "Because I didn't want to sit here in awkward silence while you texted him," she said, truthfully.

"Well, you were fine with it yesterday," he said, just a touch testily.

"I wasn't in the best of moods," she countered. "And apparently you aren't either."

"No," he said, immediately, "I just wasn't sure what your mood was. I didn't want to be too pushy."

"It's fine. I'm going to be nice today," she said. "Or as nice as can be expected."

Enjolras cracked a small smile. "We're going to restart restarting?"

"No one ever said we'd get it right the first time," she said.

Enjolras smiled for real this time and Eponine detected a hint of relief. He'd probably been expecting her to be a frigid bitch like yesterday. But she was going to be true to her deal with Jehan. (And obey her inner instinct to be friends.) "So, how have you liked California?" he reechoed his question from the day before and Eponine willingly answered. They had been chatting for several minutes, quite amiably. Perhaps the conversation didn't flow quite as easily as it used to but they were taking baby steps. Bossuet joined them and they gladly included him in their conversation, his presence alleviating the slight awkwardness that had begun to build up as they ran out of small talk ideas. It wasn't long before Combeferre drove up and picked them up. Enjolras and Combeferre kept up a lively discussion and Eponine was content to listen. She felt quite pleased and applauded herself for making a very good effort of being friendly. She'd been very civil and polite. Yes, she was rather proud of herself. But as she listened to Combeferre and Enjolras, her pleased mood became slightly darkened. A sort of envy for the ease at which the pair seemed with each other settled over her. Her conversation with Enjolras had been fine. But it had been a conversation between strangers. Combeferre and Enjolras had technically only known each other for two days but here they were having a better and more interesting conversation. That longing for old times when things had been so much easier swept over her again.

By the time they arrived at work, Eponine had gone from feeling pleased with herself to feeling discontent. "Why the frowny face, Jondrette?" Courfeyrac asked, as she came into the cubicle. "Been fighting with your ex again? You two were like cats and dogs yesterday."

"No," she said. "I've been nice to him today. We've both been very polite."

"So why were you frowning when you came in?"

"I don't know. I was just thinking that well, I guess, I just," she frowned again as she tried to put her thoughts into words. "I guess, I just wish I knew where this was going. Like are we going to be friends or are we just going to stay this kinda civil, nice boringness?"

Courfeyrac shrugged. "I don't know. I guess you'll just have to let it play itself out. But kudos to you for being nice. I don't think I've seen you that angry since that time that guy groped you when we were out clubbing."

"Ew, don't remind me please," she groaned. "He was probably the most drunk and perverted person I've ever had the misfortune to meet and believe me I've met some pretty disgusting people."

"Oh and remember that guy who kept trying to get your number?" Courfeyrac laughed.

"Yes!" she exclaimed. "He seriously would not take no for an answer."

"Well, that's what fake boyfriend Courf was there for," he answered. "Nobody hits on my fake girlfriend."

"Dude, he still didn't even go away after I told him we were together," Eponine laughed.

"Persistent little bugger," Courfeyrac agreed.

"Or your just a not intimidating boyfriend," she teased.

"Excuse moi! I am an excellent boyfriend," Courfeyrac proclaimed, pompously. Eponine busted up laughing. The pair were interrupted by Enjolras clearing his throat as he stood in the doorway.

"Oh, sorry. Didn't see you there," Eponine apologized. "What's up?"

"I was just wondering what the code for the copy machine was," he said.

"Oh, I'll show you," she said. "Hold on a minute. I had some stuff I need to copy. I'll just grab it." She turned and opened her drawer, rifling through her papers until she found the right one. She could hear Courfeyrac attempting small talk with Enjolras who seemed to be replying in monosyllables. She finally found what she was looking for and walked around her desk to join Enjolras. "Oh, and Courf, I forgot to tell you. We stopped to get coffee on the way in. I got you a chai tea latte. Ferre probably has it," she said, over her shoulder.

"Thanks, babe!" Courfeyrac said, brightly. "You're the best."

"Don't I know it," she laughed. She turned back to Enjolras who was treating Courfeyrac to one of his specialty glares. As they walked down the hall to the copy machine, Eponine couldn't help the feeling that there was some amiss with Enjolras. He was silent, and not in an "I just having nothing to say" way, but a very tense and stiff silence. She tried to dismiss it as she showed him how the copy machine worked and tried to start a conversation, her thoughts from the drive in still prevalent in her mind. He was decidedly unreceptive, doing nothing more than nodding or "mhming" in response.

"What's wrong?" she finally sighed.

"What?" he turned to her with a frown.

"What's got your panties all in a twist? You're awfully quiet and not in a normal way. In an upset way," she said.

"I don't know what you mean," he said, stiffly.

"Oh, c'mon, Enjolras. Let's not play stupid. We dated for three years, remember? I can read you like a book," she said.

He heaved a sigh. "I didn't know you and Courfeyrac were dating," he muttered.

Eponine almost laughed but she didn't. She wondered just how long she could run with this idea. "What makes you think we're dating?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I overheard you guys talking about it. Something about him being not being an intimidating boyfriend and him disagreeing. And then the whole coffee thing and he called you babe," Enjolras explained. He was blushing, very obviously uncomfortable.

"Courfeyrac calls everyone nicknames," she said. "I tried to get him to stop but it's so second nature to him he doesn't even realize. And of course we get each other coffee. We're always hanging out at Chetta's or carpooling in so we've all memorized each other's coffees. It's not just Courf's. I know that Ferre likes his black and that Bossy takes his with a cream and two sugars. It's nothing out of the ordinary."

She could tell Enjolras wasn't buying it but she didn't care. This was the gospel truth. "I heard you guys talking about him being your boyfriend," Enjolras raised his point again.

"Oh, that. We were out clubbing and he was just saving me from some creepazoid by telling him that he was my boyfriend. That's all," Eponine said. "Courf and I are super close. We hang out all the time and go out to coffee and lunch and go clubbing and stuff but I've never been on an actual date with him."

"Might I remind you that we were together for five months before going on our second date," Enjolras pointed out, eyebrow raised skeptically.

"Well, maybe I just like guys who don't take me on dates," Eponine said. Was she purposely being vague and not specifically saying she and Courf weren't dating? Maybe.

"So you guys _are_ together?" Enjolras asked, drawing his eyebrows together.

"I didn't say that," she said.

"Enjolras, you got a minute?" one of their co-workers interrupted them.

"Yeah, sure," Enjolras said. He frowned at her again before stalking off down the hall. Eponine had some difficulty stifling her giggles. So maybe it was a little cruel but she'd never seen Enjolras jealous before and it was rather….cute. Anyways, it was just a tiny, tiny payback for the misery he'd put her through. She felt completely justified in this and it had all been the truth. He could read into it however he wanted.

Eponine didn't see him until later that day when she was passing by the break room. Courfeyrac was in there chatting up some of their female co-workers. Enjolras was sitting at the table, blatantly glaring at Courfeyrac. "What'd Courf do this time?" Combeferre asked, coming up beside her. "Enjolras looks royally pissed off at him." "Surprisingly, he's done nothing this time," Eponine said. "Enjolras just has glaring problems." Combeferre chuckled and walked off. Eponine suppressed a grin and went back to her cubicle.

As they left work, walking through the parking lot, Courfeyrac ran to caught up with Eponine. "Hey, what the hell did you tell Enjolras? Because I'm pretty sure he hates my guts right now."

Eponine shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't say anything bad about you."

"Well, then why the hell does he look like he wants nothing more than to pour boiling lava down my ears?" Courfeyrac demanded. "He was totally cool with me yesterday."

"What makes you think I know anything about it?" she challenged.

"You're smiling like you've got a secret," Courfeyrac narrowed his eyes at her.

"Maybe I'm just happy," she said.

"Bullshit," he scoffed. "Whatever. Don't tell me. But if I end up murdered in my bed because your ex is a serial killer then it is your fault." Eponine just rolled her eyes and hurried off to Combeferre's car.

"Let's go, Jondrette!" Bossuet hollered at her.

"Sorry, sorry," she muttered, sliding into the car. "I was talking to Courf."

"Yeah, tell me something new," Bossuet rolled his eyes. "You two gossip like little school girls."

"So you've told us," Eponine sighed. Enjolras turned around from the front seat and raised his eyebrows at her. She pretended not to notice. Enjolras was deathly quiet the ride home.

As she mounted the stairs to her apartment with Enjolras and Bossuet, she saw Jehan waiting at the top. "Hello. How was work?" he called down to them.

"Not too bad," Bossuet called up to him. "You?"

"The children were adorable as always," he said. They arrived at the second level. "What's the matter with you? You look like thunder," he addressed Enjolras.

"Nothing. Just a rough day," Enjolras muttered. Jehan raised his eyebrows and cast a disapproving glance at Eponine before expressing his sympathies. The four soon parted – Enjolras and Bossuet to the floor above and Eponine and Jehan to their apartments.

"Eponine, c'mon. I thought you were going to be nice to him today," Jehan said, as soon as the other two were out of earshot.

"I was nice!" Eponine protested. "We talked while we waited for the bus and when we got to work. But then he got into this foul mood and has been like that all day."

"And you had nothing to do with it?" Jehan asked. She bit her lip and didn't say anything. "Eponine!" Jehan exclaimed. "What did you do?"

"It's not what I did but rather what I didn't," Eponine sighed.

"And what didn't you do?" Jehan asked.

"I didn't outright tell him that Courfeyrac and I aren't dating," she confessed. "He assumed we were and I didn't necessarily correct him."

Jehan huffed exasperatedly. "Eponine, I thought you were supposed to be trying to be friends with him. Not making him jealous of Courfeyrac."

"It's funny ok?" she said, defensively. "I can't help that he took things that way."

"But you didn't correct him," Jehan scolded.

"Oh, c'mon, Jehan! Don't look at me like that," she said. "He'll figure it out eventually. And it'll be something to laugh over."

"Well, just make sure this doesn't put an even bigger rift between you," Jehan warned.

"Yes, oh wise one," Eponine giggled. But as she went inside her own apartment, she frowned and hoped Jehan's warning was unfounded. Who knew how Enjolras was taking this? His obvious jealousy meant that he still really liked her still but what if he took this too seriously and became so disheartened he didn't talk to her? Or worse, what if just moved back to New York? Eponine bit her lip, worriedly, as she entertained that idea. It suddenly occurred to her that she didn't want him to go away. She didn't want him to stop talking to her. They weren't friends again yet but oh, how she wanted to be. "Seriously?" she said out loud to herself. "It's been a couple days and I'm not even mad at him anymore." She'd spent all these months letting her anger at him fester and in only a few days it had almost completely vanished. Cosette and Jehan would have taken this as a sign of their inevitable destiny together. Eponine frowned and reasoned that wanting to be friends didn't mean that she was in love with him. She could be friends with him. That didn't mean anything. She could be friends with him and not be in love. Being in love was dangerous. Being friends – that was safe.

**A/N: I know a lot of people wanted more jealous Enjy so I hope you liked. Drop me a review if you want. Enjoy you're weekend. I finally got a new computer (I'd been having to use the family one so I didn't have a lot of time on it) so hopefully updates will be more regular. **


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: I actually updated twice in one week. *gasp* Ok, it's short but hopefully you like. Also it's super late so there's probably way more mistakes than usual. Sorry.**

"It was your fault! I knew it!" Courfeyrac bounded into their cubicle with far too much energy for this early in the morning.

"What's my fault?" Eponine asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Enjolras keeps glaring at me because he thinks we're together. Doesn't he?" Courfeyrac folded his arms smugly.

"How do you know that?" Eponine questioned.

"Jehan said something about it," Courfeyrac said. "He thought I knew about it."

"Why would he think that?"

Courfeyrac shrugged. "Well, he thought that I was _helping_ to make Enjolras jealous."

Eponine's eyebrows shot up. "Now there's an idea!" she said, excitedly. She'd resolved last night to be nice to Enjolras but this was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Courfeyrac's eyes widened. "No, no, no, no! I am not being dragged into your malicious schemes. I want no part of this."

"It's not like you have to do anything extra," Eponine said. "Just be… y'know…vague. If he asks if we're together."

"Jonny! No. I don't want to get dragged into this," Courfeyrac protested. "Why do you want to make him jealous anyways? Isn't that what people do when they want to get together with someone?"

"I'm just messing with him. It's fun," Eponine said. "Think of it as revenge."

"Remind me to never get on your bad side," Courfeyrac muttered.

"So are you going to do it?" Eponine asked. "Pretty please! For me. I've brought you coffee for five days straight."

Courfeyrac regarded her for a moment, pulling an exaggeratedly thoughtful face. "You just want me to be vague if he asks if we're together?" She nodded. "And if he asks for a yes or no answer?"

"Give him the truth. I don't care. But it would be fun for me to let him suffer just a little longer," she said.

"You're very cruel, my dear," Courfeyrac chuckled.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," she quipped.

"And were you scorned?" he asked, softly.

"I was hurt," she replied.

"Well, then I must defend my lady's honor," he replied, gallantly. "Revenge is a dish best served by Courf." She laughed aloud and hugged him. She saw Enjolras watching them over Courf's shoulder and she couldn't help the devilish glee that spread through her.

Anyone who knew Courfeyrac would think next to nothing of his flirtatiousness, for with Courfeyrac, flirting almost never meant anything. Enjolras however, had the disadvantage of not knowing Courfeyrac. He interpreted every term of endearment, every wink, every compliment as a sign that they were together. His heart seethed inside him and he would have gladly strangled the debonair man's neck. Instead, he had to stare at the computer screen and convince himself that he wasn't eavesdropping on their conversation. They just talked really loud, that was all.

They were having a conversation about various political issues but that wasn't why he was listening. He was simply marveling at the ease with which the endearments rolled of that Courfeyrac's tongue, how he somehow managed to slip in compliments. If Enjolras leaned slightly to the left (ok, maybe a lot to the left) he could see them where they stood in the hallway. She was filing paperwork and he was lounging around next to her. At some point their conversation had gone from serious to teasing. She swatted at him with her papers and he laughed and leaned close to her, whispering something in her ear that made her eyes go wide and swat at him again even while she laughed. "You're neck's going to be stiff if you lean over anymore," Combeferre filled the doorway, blocking his view. Enjolras straightened up quickly, blushing at having been caught spying.

"I was just seeing who was being so loud," he said. There was another loud burst of laughter from the pair.

"Yeah, it was probably the worst mistake Lamarque ever made, having those two share a cubicle. They talk way too much," Combeferre said, looking over his shoulder and shrugging. "But she keeps him in check and tolerates him best out of all of us so no one's going to complain about it. If they laugh too loud, so what? Better them laughing than arguing, right?"

"Well, if they'd keep their laughing to a quieter volume then it'd make it a helluva lot easier for the rest of us to do our work," Enjolras muttered.

"Don't worry. You'll get used to it," Combeferre said, consolingly. "You'll have to. It's not like they'll shut up any time soon."

Enjolras sighed and turned back to his work. He would rather not get used to hearing them laughing all the time.

The end of the work day came but Enjolras was still not relieved from having to see Eponine and Courfeyrac together. "Fridays are half off at the Musain. We always go. It's our end of the work week tradition, you can say," Combeferre explained. Enjolras nodded and sighed, considering being rude and declining. Well, he could do like he always did when his friends back home dragged him somewhere. Show up and then leave early.

Enjolras tried to focus on the conversation between Combeferre and Bossuet. He tried really hard not to think about Eponine driving with that stupid Courfeyrac and his fancy ass sports car. "Dude, you could totally Chetta's coffee right now," Combeferre laughed. Enjolras suddenly realized they'd been trying to get his attention. "You are so out of it right now."

"Yeah, uh, sorry. I was just thinking," Enjolras said.

"About what murdering someone," Bossuet teased. "You looked pissed off."

"Erm, I guess I just have an angry resting face," he said. Combeferre and Bossuet laughed. Enjolras chuckled, half-heartedly.

"Well, how are my favorite people doing today?" Musichetta called to them as they came inside the shop. "I've got all your coffees hot and ready." Bossuet moved forward to help distribute them but Combeferre hurried ahead of him.

"Don't worry, Bossy, I got this. I don't think my shirt can take another coffee spill," he said. Bossuet smiled sheepishly, knowing all too well his notoriety for spilling things.

They all gathered around the table, already occupied by Jehan. Through the chatter and laughter, Enjolras made no attempt to be sociable. If Enjolras heard one more "babe" or "darling" directed toward Eponine by Courfeyrac, he very well might smash something. He tried to tell himself that he should be happy for her sake. Or if not happy then at least not unhappy.

Musichetta was regaling them with a story of some snooty customer from earlier. Enjolras stared moodily at his coffee. "Rough day again?" Jehan was looking at him, speaking quietly under the noise of the others.

"I suppose. Why?" he asked.

"You're face is that of a god bent on vengeance," Jehan said.

"I don't mean it to be," Enjolras said.

"That's why I can tell it's real," Jehan said. "There are dark thoughts swirling through your mind."

"The world's a rather dark place," Enjolras replied, morosely.

"But you're Apollo. God of light. It shouldn't be," Jehan said. Enjolras frowned in confusion and Jehan laughed softly. "Just make your own light."

The sound of Eponine squealing and then laughing at something Courfeyrac was doing reached his ears. "Easier said than done," Enjolras muttered before downing his coffee. He rose quickly, thanked Chetta for the coffee and then left.

Eponine watched him go. She felt a slight twinge of regret. Her eyes met Jehan's and he shook his head slightly in disapproval. Eponine sighed as the regret turned into guilt. Why did he make her feel guilty? It was all his stupid fault. They could have been still happily together if it wasn't for him being stupid. _But you'll never be happily together if you keep acting like this,_ a voice reminded her. She sighed again and swirled her coffee. She admitted it had been funny watching him glare at her and Courfeyrac. Watching him jut out his jaw and draw his brows together the way he did when he was angry. He looked so funny. (And sexy.)

She'd barely even talked to him today besides a few social pleasantries. Not that she'd tried to shut him out. She just hadn't talked to him. Hadn't she told herself yesterday that she'd make a real effort today? She had started out the day with good resolutions but it had quickly evaporated. It wasn't that he had made her angry or something she just didn't want to try yet. She was…well, she was scared. She didn't know what to say, what to do. She was terrified of closing that distance between them. She was scared of what would happen. Jehan said they had changed. Would they have changed too much? What happened if they didn't work well together? What happened if they did?

She went home, eaten up with her distracted thoughts. Jehan stopped by again to give her another lecture. "Can't you see what you're doing to him?" he had said. And yes she could. It was very painfully obvious what she was doing to him. She was hurting him just like he'd hurt her. All the sweetness of her revenge turned sour. All she wanted to do was curl up on the couch and cry.

It was late, nearing midnight when she heard a knock on the door. She frowned and went to answer, hoping it was just Jehan. She cracked the door and peered around the edge. Enjolras stood there in his pajama bottoms and t-shirt. His hair was a wild mass from the amount of times he'd agitatedly run his fingers through it. "Uh, hi," she said.

"Are you and Courfeyrac together?" he asked without prelude.

"What?" she blinked quickly, taken aback.

"Are you together?" he asked.

"Still hung up on this?" she tried to play it off, coolly.

"Yes. I am. And I want an answer," Enjolras demanded. "None of this beating around the bush. It's a simple yes or no."

"Why do you want to know?" Eponine ignored him.

"Why do you think, Eponine?" he ground out, irritated.

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" she challenged.

"Because if you two are together then it changes things. I came here to fix things between us and make sure you're happy. I will fix things and I will make sure you're happy. But forgive me when I say I can't bear to be around if you're with someone else. Maybe it's selfish and childish of me but I'm sorry. That's the way things are."

"No," she said, shortly. "We're not."

"No?" Enjolras looked visibly relieved.

"No," she affirmed.

"Good. Well, yeah….good. G'night, then," he said, trying to stop the blush that was rising to his cheeks.

"That's it? You have your answer so you're just gonna go?" Eponine asked, frowning, not knowing why that bothered her so much.

"Did you want me to stay?"

The question hung in the air unanswered for a few seconds. "What the hell did we use to talk about?" Eponine said, suddenly.

"We talked about everything," Enjolras replied, automatically.

"Then why can't we do that now? Why is it awkward?" she demanded to know.

"Maybe because there's too much bad feeling between us," Enjolras shrugged.

"No. We used to hate each other in the beginning. How did we become friends?"

"Extreme overexposure to one another I suppose. Both of us were always either in my dorm or Marius'." Enjolras shrugged again.

"Overexposure?" she asked. Her mouth twitched into a tiny smile. "Is that how you see it?"

"Well, what else was it? We saw each other every single day. Our choices were either to become mortal enemies or friends," Enjolras said.

Eponine raised her eyebrows, nodding. "I suppose you're right. I'm glad we became friends though."

"Same here," Enjolras said. He smiled a little and sadly at her. "I miss being friends."

Eponine held his gaze for a few moments. Without warning, she grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. "What are you doing?" Enjolras frowned, confused but not opposed.

"White Collar re-runs," she said.

"What?" he asked.

"White Collar. We're watching it. Sit," she stopped dragging him and pointed at her couch. He sat down.

"Extreme overexposure starts now," she said.


	24. Chapter 24

Eponine was taking this whole overexposure thing seriously. Not that Enjolras minded but despite her almost constant presence, he felt that they'd still made no progress in their friendship. They went through the motions well enough – stopping by each other's apartments to watch TV or going to the Musain for a cup of coffee. They never could seem to get past the small talk, though. They'd talk about work, Marius and Cosette's impending wedding, something they'd watched on TV. But the conversations were dull and lifeless. He still clung to that hope that constantly being around each other would erode away the wall that was between them. But it didn't. It had been a week and there was no change. Maybe to everyone else they seemed to be getting along just fine. And they were, so to speak. They talked often, laughed sometimes, smiled a lot. But Enjolras knew that if any one of their friends back home were to see them interact they'd immediately know that everything wasn't right.

They were in his apartment trying to decide on a movie. "What about Gladiator?" she said, her head tilted sideways as she read the titles of the dvd's on the shelf.

"Whatever you want," he replied.

"Well, I don't know. That's why I'm asking you," she said.

"I'm fine with whatever you pick," Enjolras said. Eponine sighed and pulled out the movie. She rose but didn't move to put the disc in. Instead she stood, staring thoughtfully at the ground. He wanted to ask her what was wrong but he didn't want to seem too inquisitive. So he waited and pretended to busy himself with tidying his coffee table.

"I think I know what's wrong," she said, abruptly. "Why it's not working."

"Why?" he asked, not even having to ask what she was talking about.

"When we first met," she said. "We didn't give a damn about each other's feelings. We said what we thought and that has been the story of our lives ever since. Right now, we're both just walking on eggshells and hoping we don't offend the other person."

"So you're saying we should just lose any and all tact or discretion and just say what comes to mind," Enjolras asked.

"Well, how else are we going to find out if we'll work? We can't just go on with this polite charade any longer. That's not us. You know that. It's not who we are. You're the outspoken firebrand and I'm the loud hothead."

"Yeah, but how is that supposed to make everything better? If we just piss each other off. It sounds backwards to me," Enjolras said.

"Well, this isn't working so we might as well try something completely different," Eponine argued.

Enjolras stared at her for a couple moments. She was right. This was the closest they'd had to having a real conversation. Because in this moment they were being themselves. They weren't trying to be polite or nice or anything. They were just being themselves and that was good. That was how it had always been.

* * *

_Flashback_

* * *

At the start of junior year, the boys had moved off campus into two apartments right next to each other. They had started the night in the Fariusly apartment so called because it was technically shared by Feuilly, Marius and Joly. (Everyone was in and out of both equally so it hardly mattered who owned which.) They were going to have a game night but then an argument broke out over what game to play and Marius and Cosette miraculously disappeared and then Feuilly got called into work so that was three people out and the rest just didn't feel like playing anymore. Bahorel turned on the TV and the other boys glued themselves to a wrestling match that neither Eponine nor Enjolras cared to watch. They went over to the apartment shared by Grantaire, Enjolras and Bahorel. The Bajoltaire apartment. Eponine noticed the flyers on the table, asked about them and then they spent the next half-hour talking about the rally and making flyers. Two hours had passed since then and Eponine was getting fed up.

"You're such an asshole, Enjolras!" Eponine said, in annoyance. She'd been trying to get him to stop his work for the night.

"You're such a complainer, Eponine!" Enjolras mimicked. They were bent over a table covered in books, notebooks, flyers, and old coffee cups.

"It's Saturday night and we're stuck in this dump," she said. "We're making freaking flyers for a freaking rally that is a freaking month away."

"Eponine, how are people going to show up for it if they don't know about it, huh? You tell me. Now if you would stop complaining and messing around and actually help me then this wouldn't take so damn long," Enjolras retorted.

"I'm studying," she growled. With that she picked up one of the textbooks from off the table and flopped onto the couch behind him. Both continued their separate work in silence for several minutes before Eponine started to hum. Enjolras shushed her which only made her hum louder.

"Eponine, can you not?" Enjolras sighed.

"Enjolras, can you not?" she echoed.

"Why are you being so difficult?" he looked over his shoulder at her.

"I'm not being difficult. Tonight was supposed to be fun and relaxing and here you are making flyers," Eponine said. "You're the one being difficult."

"Fine. What do you suggest we do?" Enjolras asked. "Do you wanna go out?"

"No."

"Then what do you want to do? Watch a movie?"

"I don't know," Eponine answered.

"Well, since you don't know then I'm just going to work on these until you figure out what you want to do," Enjolras said, turning back to his work. Eponine pouted and lobbed a pillow at the back of his head.

"Hey!" he cried indignantly, whirling around. She had the textbook up in front of her, playing innocent. "Stop that," he muttered.

"You stop that," she said. Enjolras rolled his eyes and turned back to the table. She threw another pillow at him. It missed and landed on the table, scattering the flyers.

"Eponine!" Enjolras said, in dismay. "Don't be so childish! Look at what I've got to clean up now."

"I'll clean it up," Eponine sighed, tossing aside the textbook and heaving herself off the couch.

"You don't have to," Enjolras said, frowning. "I'll do it. I was just saying stop being such a brat and distracting me."

"Enjolras, I don't mind when you get super focused on important stuff but this is hardly a pressing matter. Besides you have enough flyers to cover the Statue of Liberty. Can you just knock off being the incendiary rebel for a minute?" she said, bending and picking the flyers off the ground.

"New York's a lot bigger than the Statue of Liberty," Enjolras countered. "That means I have to make more."

"Ugh, I can't believe I have to spend the whole night with a blockhead who can't take a five minute break from his rabble-rousing," Eponine groaned.

"You don't have to stay here if you don't want," Enjolras shot back.

"Are you telling me to go?" Eponine accused.

"I'm telling you that you keep complaining about being stuck here but you don't have to be. Go have fun," Enjolras said.

"Maybe I don't want to go have fun," Eponine argued.

"Then what the hell are you complaining about?" Enjolras sighed. "Haven't you been wanting to go do something all night? Well, then go do something."

"Well, maybe I want to stay here with you," Eponine said, huffily.

"Why? You were just complaining about having to stay here," Enjolras said.

"Ugh, you're so oblivious," Eponine said. "Sometimes I think I should just break up with you!"

Enjolras looked up sharply, a slight hint of alarm in his eyes. "If that's what you think then what's stopping you?" he asked, sounding a touch angry.

"Uhhh, I don't know maybe the small fact that I love you, you asshole," Eponine yelled. It was the first time she'd actually said it. "Why do you have to make me so angry?" she said, ignoring the shocked look on his face.

"Because I can't stop rabble-rousing, remember?" he said, recovering from his surprise and pulling her around the table. "Do you really love me?"

"No, I was just kidding," she said, sarcastically. "Of course I love you."

"Even though I'm an incendiary rebel?" he asked, pulling her closer.

"Especially because you're an incendiary rebel," she grinned.

"Am I still an asshole, though?" he asked, leaning down to kiss her.

"Yup." He felt her grinning against his lips before she deepened the kiss. They stayed like that for a few moments, lost in the feel of each other but Enjolras suddenly pulled away, leaving Eponine frowning in protest.

"I still have to finish these flyers," he said, apologetically. She pouted. "C'mon, Ep. This is an important cause to both of us. Why shouldn't we be giving everything to raise awareness for it?"

"I know, I know. But why do your causes have to take up so much time?" she sulked, picking up the flyers she'd thrown earlier.

"They wouldn't if I had more help," he said. Eponine looked thoughtful for a moment before walking out the room. He heard the apartment door slam and he frowned in confusion, wondering what he said that was so offending. Still puzzling, he went back to the mess of flyers. Several minutes later, he heard the door open again accompanied by the sound of loud voices. "Bahorel and Joly reporting for duty," Bahorel said, as he lounged into the room.

"Don't expect me to help with this thing," Grantaire muttered, collapsing into an armchair.

"Nobody was expecting you to," Eponine said. "Alright, Enj. I've brought help. Let's do this thing." It took considerably less time and was far more entertaining with the added company. It wasn't too long before a dozen piles of neatly stacked flyers were laid out on the table. Enjolras sat back on the couch surveying their work.

"Job well done, I say," Eponine said, sliding onto the couch next to him.

"The extra hands were appreciated," he said, draping an arm around her shoulders.

"Well, they say two is better than one," she said. "Or in this case four."

"Well, it would seem they are right," Enjolras said. He pulled her closer and leaned his head on hers. "Sorry I was being an asshole earlier."

"Don't worry. I know you wanted to get this done," she said, snuggling up to him.

"Well, it's done. I think I can afford a five minute break from rabble-rousing," he joked.

"Y' know, I think with all the extra help we shaved off a good amount of time," she said. "I say you take at least a fifteen minute break."

"Ten minutes," he argued.

"Twelve minutes," she bargained. "The world will not collapse in that time and if it does I'll help you fix it all up again."

"You will?" he asked.

"I will," she said, tilting her head to look up at him and smile.

"I love you, Ep," he said. She smiled a little wider and pulled him into a kiss.

He broke away for a just a moment. "Yeah, I think afford a little more than twelve minutes," he mumbled before leaning back in.

* * *

_Present Time_

* * *

Eponine stood waiting for him to say something. Maybe she'd pushed him too hard. She was trying her best, damn it, but she just couldn't seem to close the distance between them. She'd been nice, she'd been spending almost all her time with him. She couldn't understand why he still seemed so strange and foreign. Had he really changed that much? And then it hit her. They _were _being strange and foreign. This wasn't who she was. This definitely wasn't who he was. These polite and civil versions of themselves were boring and fake. She wanted to see the real Enjolras. The one hiding behind the pleasantries and respectful smiles. She wanted to stop being this fake Eponine who didn't want to say anything to scare him off.

"I don't want to watch that," he said, quickly. "I'm not in the mood for it. In fact, I'm not in the mood for any kind of movie. I just want to read."

"Good, I didn't want to watch anything either," she said. "What are you reading?"

"Uncle Tom's Cabin," he replied.

"Read it to me," she demanded. He picked up the book from the coffee table and opened it. She settled onto his couch and looked up at him expectantly. He glanced at her over the edge of the book and smiled.

"Say please," he said.

"Please," she complied, rolling her eyes. "Always got to be such a pain in the neck."

"Hey, I'm not gonna read it to you if you're gonna treat me like that," he said.

"Oh, just shut up and read to me already," she said.

"Which do you want me to do? Shut up or read to you? I can't very well do both," he said. She smiled at him.

"Read to me," she said, quietly.

**A/N: Ok, so I wanted to get this up. It's shorter but hopefully you like it. I'm starting college next week so I'll probably be really busy for the next few weeks so many apologies if I don't update for a while. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed/favorited/followed. Stay awesome, lovely readers. **

**P.S. SleepingwithinWater: Hopefully this made it easier to see the flashbacks.**


	25. Chapter 25

"Zette, it's so early," Eponine moaned as her friend's face appeared on the screen.

"Oh, don't give me that," Cosette rolled her eyes. "It's nine over there. And I can tell you're still in bed."

"Because Saturdays mornings were meant for sleeping," Eponine protested. "I shouldn't be awake."

"Hey, hey, you agreed to be my maid of honor. You accepted, now you get the duties that come with it," Cosette said.

"Ok, ok. What flowery, ribbon-y décor are we looking at this fine morning," Eponine said, drawing her cup of coffee to her. She honestly had only woken up fifteen minutes ago, only taking the effort to brush her teeth and make coffee before crawling back into bed for her video chat with Cosette.

"It's just some details, ok? We've already taken care of nearly everything. I just need some final input on a couple of things and then I'll let you go back to sleep," Cosette said. "Ok, so ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Eponine said, settling back into her pillows. A few details in Cosette's mind could mean hours of complex plans and ideas. However, it was relatively painless and they breezed through the final decisions in only an hour. (Which was still plenty long in Eponine's book.)

"So how've you been?" Cosette asked, when they had finished deciding what flowers the men should wear in their button holes.

"Good," Eponine said. "It's been pretty good."

"I haven't received any long, rant-y texts from you and Taire says he hasn't either so is everything ok between you two?" Cosette asked, getting right down to what she really wanted to know.

"Yeah. It's good," Eponine said, being purposefully vague.

"It's good? Well, that's good," Cosette said, hoping she'd elaborate.

"Yup. It is," Eponine said, nodding and shrugging.

Seeing that her friend wasn't going to elaborate, Cosette began plying her with questions. "So what does good mean? Like are you on speaking terms? Because last time you weren't really. Are you friendly now? You're not mad at him, right?"

"We're good," Eponine cut in. "We've managed to get past various stages of awkward, forced conversation and now we're just comfortable being ourselves. We get on each other's nerves still. We argue a lot. Things aren't exactly smooth sailing. It gets a little tense at times if we happen upon touchy subjects but other than that, I'd say we're making excellent progress."

Cosette grinned, excitedly. "Well, that is definitely a much better update than I was expecting. I was hoping you guys were at least acknowledging each other but this is much, much better," she said.

"Yeah. It's really nice. I mean, I kinda got tired of having to really exert myself to make things work but it's become so much more relaxed and comfortable," Eponine said. Cosette couldn't stop smiling at the good news.

"I'm very glad to hear that. I was a little worried there'd be some slight friction between the maid of honor and one of the groom's men," Cosette said. "I can't wait to see you guys."

"Can't wait to see you too. It'll be so great to see everyone again. It'll be like old times," Eponine said. "And you're taking care of the dress and all that, right?"

"Taken care of your dress. I've got your heels. The make-up and hair stylist is booked. You just have to show up," Cosette said.

"Oh, believe me, I'm showing up. A week in Hawaii is not something I'm going to pass up lightly," Eponine said. In a delightfully cliché move, Marius and Cosette had decided to hold their wedding in Hawaii. Eponine couldn't wait to get out on the beautiful beaches and just spend the day lounging around. Not of course that that was actually going to happen. Cosette would be in a constant state of nervous frenzy and she'd have to be there to make sure everything ran smoothly for her best friends' wedding.

"You better not. I don't care if you have to take a rowboat to get there. Just be there, ok?" Cosette said.

"Yes m'am!" Eponine saluted her. "I'll see you in a few weeks."

"Bye, Ponine. Love ya," Cosette said, blowing her a kiss.

"Good-bye, future Mrs. Pontmercy," Eponine replied. Cosette giggled and blushed before waving again and ending the call. Eponine sank back into her pillows. Her best friends were getting married. Seven years they'd been together. Eponine couldn't help the little pang of jealousy at the fairy-tale perfection of their love life. She was pretty sure in their seven years together they'd never had any major fight. Well, they considered their little tiffs major but they paled in comparison to the turbulent ups and downs of her relationship with Enjolras. She shrugged. Her relationship with him seemed to be on an upward climb and that was a good thing.

As though he'd known she'd been thinking about him, the phone rang and she saw it was Enjolras. "Hello," she answered.

"Oh, whoa! You're awake. It's a miracle," he teased.

"Shut it. I had to talk to Cosette this morning or else I wouldn't be," she explained.

"About the wedding?" he inquired.

"Yup," she said. "She wanted to go over final details."

"Cool, well, speaking of final details, did you book your flight yet?"

"No. I was going to do that today. Why?"

"Do you wanna get the same flight?" he asked. "It'll make it easier for them to pick us up and what not if we get there at the same time." He added it as though trying to justify wanting to be on the same flight.

"Sure," she agreed readily. "We can drive in together too."

"Ok, that sounds good. Do you wanna book it then or do you want me to? When's a good time?"

"Well, we should get there before Monday evening so whatever you can find that fits that agenda," she said.

"Ok, sounds good. I'll send you details when I get them," he said.

"Ok, cool. Thanks," she said. She hung up. A five hour plane flight with Enjolras. Well, this would definitely put their growing friendship to the test. There'd be no distractions other than falling asleep. No reason to break contact with him. Sometimes if she found things to be settling into some sort of awkward silence, she'd find an excuse to leave. She wouldn't be able to do that now. Before, this would have been a dream come true. Five hours of uninterrupted time with her boyfriend. They could talk about what they pleased. They wouldn't have to worry about their friends butting into their conversations. There would be no rally planning or flyer designing to think about. The void of distractions which would have been so appeasing was now slightly intimidating. Oh, well. She could handle it….maybe.

It was later that day and they had gone out with their friends to a movie and were eating at some burger joint. Combeferre had gone outside to take a phone call but now came rushing in looking extraordinarily excited. "Guess what!" he exclaimed, sliding back into his seat.

"You won the lottery?" Eponine guessed, considering that the only reasonable explanation for his uncontained excitement.

"No. Even better," he said, grinning. "I've been asked to speak at a convention."

"That's better than winning the lottery?" Eponine asked, dryly.

"Infinitely. I've been asked to speak about social media and the impact it has on politics," he explained.

"Oh your favorite thing," Bossuet muttered. They'd all been subject, at one point or another, to one of his little speeches about said topic.

"And that's just the beginning," Combeferre continued. "Guess where it's being held."

"Disneyland," Courfeyrac answered, sarcastically.

"Hawaii," Combeferre told them. "And the icing on the cake – it's an all-expense paid trip."

"WAIT!? WHY DIDN'T I GET ASKED TO SPEAK AT THIS THING?" Courfeyrac burst out, indignantly.

"Jealous, Fey?" Combeferre grinned. "Isn't that awesome?"

"Wait! When is this convention?" Enjolras spoke up. "Eponine and I are going to Hawaii in a couple of weeks for a wedding."

"It's in two weeks," Combeferre said. "Are we going to be there at the same time?"

"Yes," Eponine replied. "This will be awesome. We must hang out. We'll introduce you to our friends."

"Hold up!" Musichetta interjected. "You cannot just go on a group vacation without us. That's no fair."

"It's not like we planned it this way," Combeferre reasoned. "It just happened."

"Fine. We're going to go on vacation without you guys then," Courfeyrac said. "Where should we go, guys?" He turned to Jehan, Bossuet and Chetta. "How about Hawaii?"

"You can't just invite yourselves along," Ferre protested.

"We're not inviting ourselves along. We're just going to be going on vacation at the same time as you all and it just so happens to be in the same place. We can go on vacation whenever and wherever we please," Jehan insisted. Combeferre rolled his eyes and let the others continue with their crazy plans. They started a rather heated debate over whether they would spend money on scuba diving or zip-lining.

"So I booked the flight," Enjolras said, drawing her attention away from her scheming friends. "It's early."

Eponine pulled a face. "How early is early?"

Enjolras ginned. "Early enough for you to be a downright terror. 5:30."

"5-freaking-30?" Eponine groaned and buried her head in her arms. "That's way too early. If we were meant to be up that early there'd be sunlight."

"How do you know there's not? You've never been up early enough to know if there is," he teased.

"Escuse moi!" she said, indignantly. "Who used to get up to go running with you when you were training for that charity marathon?" She pointed at herself. "This girl."

"We went running at seven in the morning. That's hardly 5:30," he scoffed. "There's a big difference." She sent him a venomous glare and threw a ketchup packet at him. He chuckled and flicked a crumpled napkin at her. She allowed herself a smile. So maybe five hours with him wouldn't be so bad.

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long. I've been pretty busy with school. But hope you enjoyed this little filler chapter. Hopefully the next one will be up soon and I promise I'll make it longer and more interesting. I just really wanted to get something up. **


	26. Chapter 26

She'd been complaining the whole morning. She complained when he called her to make sure she was up. She complained when she opened the door and came outside with her luggage. She complained all the way down the stairs to the taxi. She fell asleep during the ride to the airport and that had been his only respite. She woke up complaining. She complained about the long lines, the earliness of the flight, the customer service, the quality of her coffee, the smell of the airport, the comfort of the chairs. He'd about had it with her. "Oh, shut it Eponine," he growled, as she began a rant on the selection of free magazines. He wasn't exactly in a great mood himself but her constant grumblings weren't helping the situation. She stopped talking and glared at him for a moment before resuming.

"Don't be such an asshole, Enjolras. I think you should be a little more considerate," she said. "I had to wake up early, get dragged to the airport, sit around in this stupid terminal for an hour."

"And I've had to do the same things except listen to you moaning about it the entire time so just be quiet," he cut her off.

She sulked and pouted like a five-year-old but she stayed quiet. Or at least she didn't complain so much. Eponine in the mornings was never pleasant but Enjolras could hardly be bothered to care. He could still barely believe that they were actually back to friends. Ok, so maybe it got tense at times. There were certainly times when he was certain she'd terminate the friendship but she hadn't and that was good. They laughed and talked and sometimes it even almost felt like old times. And now he had a whole five hours of uninterrupted time with her. He was definitely nervous. He was afraid he'd say something to piss her off and that there'd be no second chance after that. He was so afraid of screwing up again. But that was a risk he'd have to take and if he was fated to mess up again well then he was going to take whatever time with her that he could get. Even if that meant enduring her grumpy morning self.

By the time she'd finished her coffee, she'd mellowed out and was capable of talking without venting. "Zette's gonna look like a fairy-tale princess," she was saying. "I'm so excited for them. I'm probably gonna sob like a baby."

"It's allowed at weddings," he commented. "I'll pass you the tissue."

"If Joly leaves any left. You know how he gets at weddings," Eponine laughed. "Plus he's the best man so it'll be even worse."

"Have you made your speech yet?" Enjolras asked.

"No," Eponine sighed. "I was going to work on it during the flight. What am I supposed to say? What do you normally say in your maid-of-honor speeches?"

"Well, from my vast experience as maid-of-honor I would say you should write something along the lines of a congratulating the couple and wishing them the best of luck. Maybe something about how much you cherish their friendship or some funny anecdote," he told her.

"Wow, you must have had a very vast experience," Eponine joked.

"Very vast," he affirmed. She laughed and rolled her eyes. He smiled. He loved hearing her laugh. They spent the rest of their waiting time trying to think of some funny story to include in the speech. It turned into a more generic walk down memory lane as they kept remembering all the fun times they had had in college.

"Oh and remember that time we got stuck in the jacket?" Eponine laughed. "It was like the first time you'd ever been drunk."

"Yeah, I remember," Enjolras said. Of course he remembered. That had been the night he'd realized he was in love with her. "That was pretty funny."

"It was hilarious. We were so dumb," she said. After a moment, she chuckled and said, "You know, technically that was the first time we slept together."

Enjolras reddened. This was the closest they'd ever come to bringing up their past relationship. "Technically speaking, yes" he agreed.

"Although as you put it, 'the colloquial would suggest a lot more than sleeping happened,'" she laughed again. "You were such a nerd. You still are."

"Just because I happen to have a more expansive vocabulary than you, doesn't make me a nerd," he jibed.

"No, but the lack of social life because you were studying and the dismal depths of despair you reached when your grade was not perfect made you one," she retorted. "Admit it. You're a nerd."

"Well, what's worse? Being a nerd or dating one?" he said. It was a touchy subject. He knew that. He just wanted to know how she felt about the whole dating topic. If she shied away from it, he wouldn't bring it up. If she didn't then maybe they could talk about it. Or more specifically where they were going with this present relationship.

"Oh," she laughed, although she looked a little tense. "That's below the belt."

"You started it. You called me a nerd," he said.

"Well, in my defense, you're a very good-looking nerd," she said, coyly.

"Oh, so you only dated me for my looks," he said. He didn't dare look at her. He was pretty certain all the blood in his body had rushed to his cheeks.

"Well, I needed someone to compliment my own stunning beauty," she teased.

"So you just used me, I see how it is," he said. They were dancing around a very dangerous topic but the lightheartedness of their tone kept them from stumbling upon it completely. He wondered if she would draw them back completely or keep the conversation there. He never found out if she would or not for their flight began boarding just then and in the distraction of gathering their belongings and getting in line the conversation was forgotten.

Two hours later and midway through their flight, the conversation between the pair had been flowing smoothly. Enjolras was ecstatic with relief. He hadn't screwed up anything. They'd stayed on more or less safe subjects. A movie had started playing and Eponine was watching it while Enjolras flipped through one of the travel magazines. A gentle pressure on his shoulder made him look over at her and he smiled when he realized she had fallen asleep, employing his shoulder as his pillow. Without waking her up, he was able to shift her into a more comfortable position and pulled her airplane blanket up around her shoulders. He went back to his magazine, but wasn't really reading it. He was all too aware of the girl sleeping on his shoulder. He could smell her shampoo, that vanilla/citrus smell he loved so much. Her hand was lying within a few inches of his. He just had to stretch his fingers a few centimeters and they would brush against hers. He sighed. It was so hard for him sometimes to just be friends with her. He couldn't count the number of times when he was hanging out with her when he had to repress the urge to kiss her, wrap her in a hug, even just hold her hand. They had never been the most openly affectionate couple but at least there had always been the option. Now any sign of affection was completely out of the question. He winced at his own predicament. He couldn't even show the girl he loved how much he loved her for fear of scaring her away. Was it always going to be like this? If she ever decided to give their romance a try again, would he know? What if she realized she couldn't love him again? What if he never got over her? Would he be doomed to spend the rest of his life stuck in the friend zone? He remembered all the advice that he'd given her when she had been pining over Marius. He had considered it very easy to follow at the time and never understood why she would torture herself like that. He understood now. He couldn't help it. He could tell himself over and over to let her go but that didn't mean he was going to.

She stirred in her sleep, pulling him from his thoughts. She sighed and shifted a little, no doubt trying to find a more comfortable position. Her hand brushed against his and she instinctively grabbed it. She always was a clingy sleeper, always needing something – sometimes it was a pillow, sometimes it was a blanket, sometimes it was him – to hold onto while she slept. He held still until she fell back into deeper sleep. He glanced down at their hands. Hers holding on to his. Acting on an impulse, he carefully lifted them and pressed his lips to her hand. Then, so as to eliminate any potential source of awkwardness, he pulled his hand away from hers. She frowned a little at the loss of contact and he pressed another quick kiss to top of her head. Her face relaxed back into peaceful sleep and he let out a shuddering sigh. Sometimes it was so hard to just be friends with her.

Eponine woke up, slowly. She tried to remember where she was. She could feel a scratchy blanket around her shoulders. Her head was resting on something that definitely wasn't her soft pillows but it wasn't altogether uncomfortable. She was slightly stiff and realized she was sitting up. She'd fallen asleep in a chair? She frowned and tried to remember what she'd been doing. To add to the confusion, there was a decidedly masculine smell surrounding her, a mix of after-shave, coffee and old books. It was, to be precise, a scent she automatically identified with Enjolras. Her eyes flew open. Oh, that's right. She was on the plane. She shifted a little and realized her head was resting on Enjolras' shoulder. _This is slightly awkward, _she thought. She removed her head quickly.

"Oh, hey, you're awake." Her movement had drawn his attention away from the book he was reading.

"How long was I out?" she asked, stifling a yawn and trying to stretch in the limited space.

"About an hour," he said. "You slept like a baby. You didn't even wake up when we went through some turbulence."

She shrugged. "I didn't even remember where I was when I first woke up." He nodded and rubbed his shoulder, stretching his neck a little. She suddenly realized that the position of supporting her head on his shoulder must've been an extremely uncomfortable one for him. "I'm sorry. You must've been so uncomfortable," she said apologetically. "You should've moved my head."

"It's fine. I always get a little stiff sitting still for too long," he brushed away her apology. "I'm going to go the bathroom." He stood and rotated his shoulders again and he winced ever so slightly. He really must've been uncomfortable. He could have easily moved her head to the headrest, especially if she'd been as deeply asleep as he said. He'd always been one to play the chivalrous knight. The stewardess came up just then asking if she'd like a drink. "I'll have a coke," she said. She hesitated wondering if Enjolras wanted something. "And can I get a ginger ale for my friend?" The woman nodded and moved on to the next passengers.

Enjolras soon came back and they started talking again. The stewardess came back with their drinks. "A coke for you, m'aam." She handed her the little plastic cup. "And a ginger ale for you, sir," she handed him his drink. Enjolras took it and looked over at Eponine, raising his eyebrows.

"Ginger ale?" he questioned.

"You like ginger ale," she said, as though in defense.

"I know," he laughed. "And you don't." It had been a joke between them, her abhorrence of ginger ale and his love for it. He'd bought her a case of it one year as a joke for Christmas. She'd retaliated by pouring it into a couple dozen sandwich bags and leaving them on his bed under the covers. His mattress had smelled like ginger ale for months afterwards.

Eponine smiled when he laughed. She didn't know why she'd gotten him ginger ale. It had been a random whim. All this talk about the fun times in college had made her rather nostalgic. She realized suddenly how much she had missed Enjolras. Not just him as her boyfriend, but him as her friend. He had been her best friend. Even if they didn't get back together (a question which had been popping up rather often in her thoughts) she wanted him back as her best friend. The guy she could go to with all her problems. The guy who would laugh at her problems and then make them go away. Being by herself in California, she'd proven to herself that she didn't need him. She was independent. She could take care of herself. But that didn't really matter, because whether she needed him or not, she still wanted his friendship. She just didn't want to fall back in love with him. She couldn't trust herself not to though. Some things, no matter what you did, were bound to happen and she knew if she let Enjolras get close enough she'd fall back in love with him. Love had hurt her enough times already. She didn't need that pain again. She sighed at her predicament. She wanted his friendship without the danger of falling in love with him.


End file.
